Blimey, the weight of expectations hanging on this one are enough to crush you on their own. I can't truly say that BRAND NEW meant much to me previously, other than I knew they hailed from America's Eastern Seaboard and made an album... ooh, three years back, but recently they've been touring with the US's favourite Emo obsession, Dashboard Confessional, are getting massive promotional pushes involving heavy rotation from Zane Lowe, XFM, Total Rock and MTV2 and even the notoriously finicky Rolling Stone have put their weight behind them.
On hearing "The Quiet Things That No-One Ever Knows" it's both easy AND impossible to see why. Easy because Brand New's is a very safe, predictable, radio-friendly chugging Emo-core, with the requisite melodic and shouty bits both present and correct and impossible in the sense that well, frankly the song's title is its' most remarkable feature. How the hell can something so instantly forgettable be set up as distinctive? Hell, even though I personally think The Strokes are massively over-rated, at least when you hear them you know it's them, which is more than can be said for this; something that could be one of any number of Jimmy Eat World/ Rival Schools clones.
|
Perhaps the answer lies with the B-side, the equally immortally-titled "Jude Law And A Semester Abroad", presented here in creepy, acoustic radio session mode. Here, I can understand the attraction better, when singer Jesse Lacey seethes with numb, barely-contained bitterness and lets loose all manner of frazzled, emotional betrayal via lines like: "The American boy you used to date who would do anything you say", and - even more pertinently - "No more songs about you...after this one I am done." Phew! Damn the Kleenex.
I've yet to hear their forthcoming album, "Deja Entendu", but keep catching rumours of its' impending greatness being bandied around. On the basis of this, though, one can only hope they've packed their acoustic guitars and are wearing their emotional bruises with pride, as it's only then that they grab your attention. Well, other than with the fetching strawberry-coloured vinyl, of course...
|
