May the thoughts be with you
Long Island's alt rockers Brand New are a band that put more thought into their music, and along with their live performances have gained themselves a cult following. There's a twist of the morbid with Brand New in the vein of Alkaline Trio, however instead of the Punk influence, there is a more laid back outlook a little like if Ben Folds went morbid and slightly more heavier!
First song and single, 'Sowing Season' was aired on Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Record In The World Right Now'. The song has such a gentle beginning that it is bordering on a lullaby before the guitars, bass and drums kick in with vocals that scream out in a Kurt Cobain kind of way. What I like is that no song on here is simple and quickly thrown together. There is no rush to get straight into a song, and this shows in the strength of the great, 'Milestone' which has echoes of AFI in the verses. 'Jesus' follows with verses that are almost slipping into a rap, before the harmony of the bridge. This could well be a very good single, and a great example of Brand New to new listeners.
I guess any criticisms would surround the laid back nature of the songs, and the fact that you won't find too many hard rocking anthems, but then that's not why you turned up to this party, so it's no great surprise. If you are looking for short sharp adrenaline rushing shots to the arm, then you are looking in the wrong place. Most of the tracks range somewhere between four and five minutes, and with the haunting, 'Limousine (MS Redbridge)' we have a song just shy of eight minutes. 'You Won't Know' starts off with the usual tip-toe melodics before exploding into a powerfully hard-hitting song, much as 'Sowing Season' at the beginning.
We then have the thoughtful instrumental of, 'Welcome To Bankok', before 'Not In The Sun', a tune that sports vocals that have a 70's glam feel to them over an Emo-style backbeat. The acoustic sounds of 'Luca' show the band's strengths with the slow and deep penetrating brilliance that put them in a class of their own. There is a slight Indie touch to - 'The Archers Bows Have Broken', before we have another slow number in, 'Handcuffs', whilst the last song is another of their brilliant acoustic types.
What we have here with this Brand New album are songs that need more then a couple of listens. This isn't an album that you will play once and be humming many of the songs, but it is an album that will grow on you the more and more you listen. These aren't quick catchy tunes that you'll play non-stop for a few weeks and then get bored, no, these are songs that you will play and want to listen closely to every key, and every lyric. Brand New are rock-geeks, and I mean that as a compliment. Each song sounds as if hours have gone into constructing the sounds to give you something that can sound both complex, but also simple at the same time. This could well turn into a cult album...