So many other journalists have written
about what causes the musical anomaly known as a "Sophomore
Slump", that restating it would just be redundant. That said,
if you don't want to hear about yet another band falling hard
on the follow-up to their well-received debut, just walk away
from this review right now, because Arm's Way is a frustratingly
classic case.
Here's the deal: each track on Arm's Way
is bursting with ideas, but very few of them actually materialize
into worthwhile songs. First track, "The Arm" personifies
the album best, opening with a beautifully delicate build up of
ghostly voices and crashing cymbals, but quickly ditching it for
a generic, dark indie-pop tune. Time and time again throughout
Arm's Way, the band induces face palms of the highest order, with
their decision to make the strengths that they exhibited so well
on Return to the Sea (subtlety, playfulness and catchiness) an
afterthought, in favor of a sound that's darker, more progressive,
and ultimately more forgettable.
This choice probably comes from a new-found
love for The Who, and I'm not just saying that because of the
reprise of "You Are Forgiven" that arrives at the end
of "In The Rushes". Each song flows like a Rock opera
with a capitol R, filled with misguided attempts at drama, Prog
and capturing the over the top whine of Queen at their most sinister
and "serious" sounding (serious is in quotations because
even when Queen were serious, they weren't, really). But all the
tempo changes and excess Muse-inspired melodrama (his blood is
dirty, and he likes it that way, folks!) can't mask the fact that
the parts of these multi-sectioned songs that focus on the whimsicality
from their debut are the only reasons Arm's Way is worth listening
to at all. Check out the tip-toeing bridges of "The Arm",
the chorus of "Pieces of You", the funky mid-section
of "Life in Jail" and observe how much more lively,
original and true to band they feel in comparison to the majority
of the forced, bloated songs they're lazily tacked onto.
Jamie Thompson boasted in interviews how
much more dark and complex the new album would be. But he should
have known better than to overlook the fact that that's precisely
one of the main issues that leads to a sophomore slump: a band
consciously ditches their strengths in an attempt to avoid an
album that's tagged as "too similar to their debut".
I recently stated in another review that changes are necessary
in a band's evolution. But it's also important to note that a
change should be natural. If it's too self-conscious...well...we
get a baffling mess like Arm's Way.
For
fans of: Prog-Rock, Unicorns, Built To Spill
|
