Brand New: Daisy
Brand New's new album Daisy is out now
Also In The News
|
By Matthew Champion. |  |
Monday, 21, Sep 2009 12:25
Procrastinate Music Traitors/DGC/Interscope, out September 21st.
In a nutshell...
Dark, brooding juggernaut
What's it all about?
The fourth album from Brand New sees them continue to evolve musically in a fashion which has led them to be dubbed the 'American Radiohead'. There are no Theremins or electronic bleeps here, though, instead lead singer Jessie Lacey and co stick with heavily distorted electric guitars to weave a tapestry of noise which is at once oppressive and inspiring.
Who's it by?
Brand New were early pioneers of the West Coast emo-punk scene, with their 2001 debut album Your Favourite Weapon. It was their 2003 follow-up, Déjà Entendu that propelled them into the limelight, however, with The Quiet Things That No-One Ever Knows and Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades winning the band plenty of airtime on MTV. Since then they have retreated into their shell somewhat - 2006's The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me sounded as twisted and intense as its title suggests. Despite such experimentation, the band still retain a massive cult following and are due to play Wembley Arena in January 2010.
As an example...
"Where are all the seedlings/We grew from violence/Down in Jersey lumber/Stealing prosthetic
limbs/Should have been a soldier/I could have fought and died/There's no revolution/So I bought a bride." - Bought A Bride
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Not on your nelly. This is outsider rock for shy, introverted types. Anyway, even if Brand New were invited, they wouldn't turn up.
What the others say
"Brand New take another evolutionary step forward in their experimentation with dynamics. Songs lurch from the band's heaviest yet, through brooding introspection, to the truly elegiac... Brand New are now artistically unrivalled by their peers." - Rock Sound
"By expanding their palette, Brand New may have lost some of their own identity... But while aspects of Daisy may indeed be trite, Lacey and company still express a lot of heart... Chances are that even the most initially dismissive listener will find a soft spot for Brand New's current clutch of bruised confessionals." - BBC Music
So is it any good?
Brand New set out to challenge their listeners with every new record, and Daisy is no exception. The album opens with a crackling recording of the gospel hymn On Life's Highway by Bertrand Brown, which lilts along for one and a half confusing minutes, before giving way to the visceral Nirvana-meets-Deftones assault of Vices. There aren't many links to their earlier material here; vicious screams replace acoustic guitars to create an album of real ferocity.
Standout tracks You Stole and Bought A Bride bring flair to the proceedings with frantic guitar riffs, and the thumping distorted blues of Be Gone shows real variety. The epic closing track Noro is their most satisfying work here, which leads back into a reprise of the opening hymn.
Overall, though, the tone is much gloomier than on their previous records and the tempo is fairly constant throughout. The main disappointment on this album comes with the lyrics, which were once Brand New's greatest charm. Jesse Lacey seems less eager to impress, rather it seems that he sings the first thing that comes to mind instead of labouring over clever metaphors and complex imagery.
Despite this, it's clear that Brand New have taken another step forward musically here and for the fourth album in a row they sound like a completely different band. Such reluctance to rest on their laurels marks them out as truly innovative and begs patience of an initially unwelcoming and challenging album.
7/10
Chris Jefferies