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David
Gray
A New Day at Midnight
ATO Records
Music
Head Rating: 
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Though
A New Day at Midnight is David Gray’s sixth studio album, it
represents the sophomore success test to the nine-times-platinum,
“where’d-he-come-from” singer/songwriter. For as hard as
David Gray worked to become a one-hit wonder with “Babylon,” it’d
be fair to give the Welsh chap another go. If you throw away
2000’s expectations that Gray would take over the stereos of indie
rockers, pop bobbers, and disc jockers, Midnight is a few
feet taller than White Ladder.
The first track, “Dead in the Water,” dumps a wheel
barrel of funk onto a submerged, ivory-tinged ballad. After
a sliding guitar ushers in an energetic “Woooo!!” in “Caroline,”
the weirdest collage of steel guitar and about 40 other
instruments lightly trample over wooly synths. One second,
it sounds country, then Jamaican, then back to a caffeinated pace.
In all cases, the song works but sets the bar too high for the
rest of the album.
Aside from a few songs, the album bumps along at a slow
and tiring pace. Midnight utilizes more instruments
to grab the listener’s ear, but unfortunately, songs stick
together because many of them have the same hooks. While the
formula sometimes works, it does a disservice to what would
otherwise be the album’s highlight, “Real Love.” Gray tries
to go We-are-the-World on us in “Freedom,” a seven-minute ballad
that outstays its welcome after 30 seconds.
If any one song were pulled from the album and played
on the radio, it would no doubt garner positive feedback.
Though all songs can stand on their own, many are metered in the
same stuttered way. Those patient enough to wait till the
last track to hear his single, “The Other Side,” are in for a
disappointment. By then, all of Midnight’s last songs
have meshed into one piano ballad laced with quirky, eccentric
beats.
A lot of hot music is jumping out of England right now.
The folksy-funk of Midnight doesn’t catch the ear as easily
as Coldplay or The Streets. Gray’s calculated balladry
reflects the time and patience he put into this album. But
the tall shadows of other artists and the high expectations
White Ladder make this follow-up album difficult to enjoy.
This album is unlikely to sell another nine million.
But I bet there are nine million people out there who wouldn’t
mind Midnight filling in the sonic pauses of writing,
reading, or perhaps making out. If thought of like that,
Gray could move out of sold-out arenas and into quickly booked
club concerts.
-Mike
Caggeso
Links:
www.davidgray.com
www.atorecords.com |
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Days Away
The Feel of It.
We The People Records
Music
Head Rating:
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Five guys
ranging in age from 16-18 comprise the indie emo band Days Away.
Young artists tend to face difficulties translating deeper issues
lyrically into music. This is exactly the case with the
band's debut EP The Feel of It, which barely scratches the
surface of an emo band.
The band cautiously calls their style "set to the tune of quasi-emo-rock-pop."
And while that style is clearly reflected throughout, the
repetitive ideas regarding love change the band to sound like
similar pop-punk-rock outfits like Sum 41 and New Found Glory.
"That's what she tells me" is a clear example of the recycled
sound of other mainstream bands. Opening up with a poppy
melody and singing with the attitude that "we're gonna start this
right, I'm going to make sure everything will end up white," lead
singer Chris Frangicetto yearns for the day his relationship will
end up pure and simple. That idea itself is quite naive,
considering relationships themselves are complex and hardly end
without a mess. Their honest attempt to describe the
feelings of a relationship about to end is too trite for the
listener to comprehend.
The emotionally driven "Waking Up" is one of the better
tracks. Filled with intense guitar melodies and passionate
vocals, the song has energy that continually builds, making it a
good song to ride along with in the car. The band continues
to heat up on the guitar and percussion, leading into "Knows My
Name,” a fierce track filled with emotion. Within the first
few measures, however, it again becomes difficult to distinguish
the band from similar sounding pop rock artists like Blink-182.
The opening chords of the track sounds strikingly similar to
Blink's opening on "What's My Age Again." While the
remaining portion of the song heads in a different direction, the
resemblance between the two songs is striking. The musical
styles expressed and topics seem to consistently sound identical
to other songs on the EP. The broken relationship/lost
love/unrequited love theme echoes mundane repetition.
A sprinkling of similar sounds from other pop/punk outfits
like Sum 41 and New Found Glory clearly disappoint the listener
looking for a unique sound. Days Away still needs to polish
their musical and lyrical styles. As Keith Goodwin,
guitarist, says deliberately in the band biography, "We're really
just feeling our way through right now." Clearly this album
was a premature attempt at constructing a well-polished and unique
sound. Somehow they missed that target. Days Away has
time to polish their skills hopefully for the next album.
-Janet Pak
Links:
www.daysaway.net
www.wethepeoplerecords.com |
Pulsing piano-like guitars open
up the first tune on A
Life of Saturdays,
the new album from the Austin-based band Dexter Freebish. The song is
"Leaving Town," which happened to score first place in the John Lennon
songwriting competition back in 1998, judged by the likes of Elton John and
Impartial Record Executive #37. The
success of the song inspired Capitol Records to sign the band to a standard
"riches and fame" contract. As
the U2-like opening guitars cascade over the texture, a fairly memorable melody
introduces us to the band. The
chorus jumps into an impassioned statement of memory of the good times marked by
a leap in the vocal line. The tune is simple without pulling any punches,
and the production certainly makes it eligible for top-40 status alongside
similar rockers, Train.
The sound of the record is full of
groove-influenced rock beats and cleanly distorted guitars laced with synth
sounds and loops. The songs are verse/chorus fare with fairly mundane
lyrics and predictable forms. Occasionally
the textures are interesting, such as in the beginning of "My Madonna"
although the worshipful lyrics are a bit spooky.
Is your girlfriend really the "goddess of her own religion"?
There is one thing that Dexter Freebish is not short on and that is heart.
The lead singer, singularly named Kyle, sings with a passion that is able to
pull off lines like "She could take me higher than I've ever gone. She
could take me higher than I've ever flown." The wide-eyed concern and
optimism in Kyle's voice is reminiscent of a careful Jeff Buckley fronting
Creed.
This is a band with enough honesty to earn an ounce of credibility
and enough production value to fill up the radio waves with stadium-sized riffs.
The wide-eyed optimism of Dexter Freebish is refreshing, and with a
little expanded technique and musical sensibility, it could become really
engaging. Let's hope that when the
industry's flavor of the hour changes, the honesty continues to shine through. -Steven
StarkLinks:
www.dexterfreebish.com
www.dffans.com
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For the sake of this album review, let's pretend I am a
15-year-old Scandinavian hooker and the Division of Laura Lee is
my pimp. Once I bought into the band's debut Black City, I
had no choice but to submit to every aspect of the band's Swedish
naked, eclectic and electric rock. For a more concrete sound
description, think The Pixies trading blows with The Stones.
Black
City
launches with its poppiest track and current single, "Need to Get
Some," which prepares listeners with the most fascinating part of
the album: all the quirky sounds in the background. In this
particular song, police sirens and a climaxing female moan are
heard behind the music — definitely cool.
Per Stalberg's voice is crassly attractive, capable of
fondling young and innocent ears. He shares the same voice and
vocal capacity of Mick Jagger and, coincidently, both sing
womanizing lyrics sprinkled with a few metaphor-rich drug
references. Though you could probably kick a field goal between
his front teeth, sound supersedes sight when he commands you to
"give it up" during the following track— the spiraling "We've Been
Planning This for Years."
In "Number One," the guitar attack is so strong that it
drowns out the percussion and creates its own. At first, it
bears strong similarity to The Hives' "Main Offender," but come
chorus, a melee of dangling electronics prance along the crunching
riffs. It’s a shame the song is only three minutes long; I
could rock out much longer.
Some songs are so magnificently crafted, you'll find
yourself humming the guitar hook or tapping your fingers to their
offbeat percussion. In "I Guess I'm Healed," bongos play a
game of hopscotch over a thundering bass hum. Meanwhile,
Stalberg sings an ignorantly remorseful chorus: "I used to cry
myself to sleep for 10 years, but now I'm dry. I guess I'm
healed." But two songs later, Laura Lee turns a 180 with its
snotty title track. Stalberg whines like a tough guy with a
transparent vendetta while trapped under a fast-paced pulse — “If
common sense means no control, you’ve got it.”
After realizing I’ve become so dependent on D.O.L.L.’s
music, I tried escaping by finding other emerging rock acts to
hook up with. No luck. Good Charlotte can’t charm me
with guitar skills of a pre-schooler; Audioslave sounds like my ex
trying to say, “Hey, look, I changed”; and I’d rather give myself
a swirly than listen to one more Linkin Park song.
I am unable to avoid Laura Lee’s stronghold on my
privates (my ears, you perv!), and thus, my seduction is complete.
I need and want to get some more of Laura Lee.
-Mike
Caggeso
Links:
www.dvisionoflauralee.com
www.burningheart.com |
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