by Joe Jamnitzky
With my Blood Red Shoes interview/article coming up, and the show review to follow, it seemed like a no-brainer to go back in time to their debut album, Box of Secrets, especially as it didn’t get much notice here when it was first released.
I’ll be the first to admit that I, like many other people, did not discover the band until 2010, when “It’s Getting Boring By The Sea” was used in the insanely awesome movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Fortunately, this would end up being good timing, as their second album would be released around the same time, allowing me to be all caught up on their major releases, and in the process become a major fan (read: obsessed at times).
The very first time I approached this album, four years ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After all, going into an album based off of just one song can be a bit daunting and disappointing at times. Not this time though. From the start of it’s opening track, “Doesn’t Matter Much”, with it’s pummeling, huge sounding drums and perfectly matched guitar part, I knew this would be a good album.
As soon as the second track, “You Bring Me Down”, was on, the album went from good to great. The song became an instant favorite, with it’s tense, never-let-up tempo, a sense of desperation, and the almost eerie “Nothing can stop this creeping fear” line repeated during the chorus, I found myself waiting for what was coming next. When I found the video for the song, it pushed the eerie “creeping fear” line to a whole new level; it’s seriously bizarre.
This album just would not let up. “I Wish I Was Someone Better” was another fast one, with the song’s lyrics being straightforward, including the great opening line “I made a mistake / I wear the scars to show my blame”. “ADHD”, with jagged guitar riffs and Laura-Mary’s shouts of “I can’t concentrate on anything at all!”, is another highlight.
At this point (more than halfway through), the album hits with what may be the arguable highlight of the album. “This Is Not For You” opens a bit differently than most of the other songs, with only mild distortion on the guitar playing, a rather restrained (for this album) drum part, and Laura-Mary’s vocals pushed very clearly. While most songs on the album have an equal give and take between the two vocalists (they split lead vocals through the album fairly evenly), it’s almost all Laura-Mary on this track, and her delivery of lines such as “I don’t want you to think I do the things I do because of you” give the song an aching emotion, one of sadness, disappointment, and resignation. Whenever I play it for people who have never heard the band or are only just discovering them, they immediately latch onto it and end up wanting to hear more. The video is below; maybe you’ll want more after hearing it for yourself.
“It’s Getting Boring By The Sea” immediately follows, and wakes everyone back up usually. The ping-ponging of the opening guitar riff is an immediate ear grabber, while the lyrics dealing with being trapped in a small town are something we can all relate to.
The final track, “Hope You’re Holding Up”, to me, was a sign of things to come, sounding like a forerunner of the bigger sounds of their following album, Fire Like This. By the time the song fades out behind Steven’s repeated vocalizing, you feel like you’ve been through an emotional trip. The album, musically and lyrically, is just that powerful.
An interesting thing to note is that many of these tracks were re-recordings of earlier indie singles the band had released. Many times, the re-recordings of early songs just doesn’t work. In my opinion, though, it’s the opposite here. They sound more muscular, forceful. It’s that sort of strength that works to the band’s benefit.
These are songs with power and emotion, something missing from a lot of music these days. This isn’t just two people looking to make fun music (though they do that too); this is two people making music with a purpose, with actual feeling. All things start somewhere. Even if I, like many other, was a bit late to the party, at least I showed up in time to see it really start to pick up. You really should, too.
gdlr_rp
