Sophomore syndrome for White Rabbits' second album, It's Frightening? Refreshingly, no. After being burned so many times in the last couple of years (Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah!; the Mystery Jets), its incredibly refreshing to hear a new band follow up their debut with something not only interesting, but well constructed. I do prefer the (happier/more poppy) debut Fort Nightly, but I can't complain. The White Rabbits have only changed the mood of the music, now quite a bit darker, but haven't lost any quality of song writing. They rely more on vocals, drums, and keyboards than Fort Nightly did which had numerous guitar focused tracks.If there are stand out tracks, they are "Precision Gun" and "Rudie Fails." The former is the album opener and has a great beat and some pretty vocal harmonies. It builds musical tension that, rather than culminating in the song, propels the listeners attention toward the rest of the album. "Rudie Fails" (track 2; a response to the Clash?) continues this momentum and is the most poppy song on the album (I'll probably play it on the radio tonight). My favorite song, however, is "The Salesman (Tramp Life)" which starts out pretty, but with a dissonant twist after only a few seconds. It is in this song that the energy building throughout the album really comes to a head.
One last item: It's Frightening is on TBD Records, which is a subsidiary of ATO Records (Dave Matthews vanity label), which is a subsidiary of RCA Records...so this is a major label release? Very interesting, even moreso considering TBD is responsible for the U.S. release of Radiohead's famously "independent" In Rainbows. Hmm... In any case, label affiliation explains why I can't send you to the record label to buy the album, because their website links to Amazon. Grudgingly, so do I.
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3 comments:
I love dissonant twists! I'll check it out.
What's the deal with label affiliation? Is it cuz of the radio station?!
*Loved* Fort Nightly. I will most definitely have to check this one out.
And on another note, you didn't like the Mystery Jets' second record? Wow, for me, it was absolutely love at first listen! Hmmm, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one, then!
I suppose I should clarify about the Mystery Jets: Zootime, on which 9 of 12 songs were previously released on Making Dens, was technically their second LP release. However, given the fact that it only has three new songs, it can hardly be called a sophomore album (more like an EP with a lot of bonus tracks). This leaves Twenty-one, technically their third LP, as the album that demonstrates the Mystery Jet's ability to write good music year after year.
Thus Twenty-one functions as the sophomore album. In reaction to Analise's comment, I gave it another listen. It still sucks.
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