Review: At the Devil’s Workshop by Young Brides
My Dear Annabelle,
So much has changed since the days when we together listened to our childhood heroes. Remember Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder, and Billy Corgan? Oh, how we looked fondly on them, but where have they gone? They’re no longer the men they used to be, not to you and me, and certainly not to my nephew and niece. Rediscovering today the music we loved yesterday is so difficult, but recently I happened upon a new album called At the Devil’s Workshop by Minneapolis’ Young Brides. Here is something, Annabelle, something conceptual; and how you love true artistry.
Young Brides stares down that grim face of conformity, that which has packaged and delivered so many three-minute trifles over the last 15 years. “Verse Chorus Verse” was an ironic contradiction for Kurt Cobain’s brand of anti-establishment rock. For Young Brides, however, it is the smoky fog through which the band emerges, and even though such a structured approach to song-craft does not become the band, an allure remains for listeners like you and me. At times the band sounds loosely composed, raising hell with rhythm, just as Pavement would so often do. And Kyle O’hara, the lead singer of Young Brides, at times displays such careless disregard for vocal meter that one might believe Morrissey had scribbled the lines himself! Yet despite familiarity’s absence, every song is made pleasant, and flows in story-like fashion one into the next. Literally, I tell you, one fine line into the next.
In 12 arrangements are found 12 keys. Each key unlocking a new portion of drama and tragedy addressed to someone’s “Dearest Claire.” Themes and spirits shift, from the aggressive lonesomeness of “Achilles’ Heel” to the upbeat dance macabre of “Death of Laura Brown.” Tones and volumes swell and shrink with the Pink Floydesque, epic scenes, “Isle,” “In the Golden Heather,” and “Without a Mouth.” Their song “Overripe” drives with breakneck ambition and “No One” is perhaps the band’s closest brush to a mainstream touch. How anachronistic of them, don’t you think?
In a day and age when so many artists struggle to cut that single hit, how comforting it is to see a band that fancies an album over a track. At the Devil’s Workshop can withstand the criticism brought on by a “shuffling” stereo, but it’s most excellent shape is found front to back, beginning to end, thirty-nine minutes and four seconds. Crisp overdriven guitar solos, crashing drums, and a commitment to melodic bass lines, Annabelle, these all are found! At the Devil’s Workshop must be listened to, not merely heard, and is as fit for a day’s lazy lull as a Friday’s night out.
Isn’t it striking though, that a conceptual piece of art should take the form of a letter addressed to one “Dearest Claire”? How silly.
yrs. tomorrow and forever,
Skelly
[audio=http://borangutan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/09thedeathoflaurabrown.mp3]
The Death of Laura Brown by: Young Brides
Links
Young Brides – Myspace / Borangutan “Downloads” Page
Purchase At the Devil’s Workshop HERE.
posted March 26th, 2009 at 3:43 pm Reviews
Gyrators start your hormones, air love is coming to town. The U.S. Air Guitar Championships will hit Minnesota on June 5 at the Varsity Theater. In attendance? Expect the full barrage of Pete Townsend windmills, Stevie Ray behind the head solos, and Jimi Hendrix string flossings. Participating? Learn and expect to do these things, or your done for.
Whippersnappers like me (if I still count, that is) sometimes look upon the music of our mothers and fathers with indifferent eyes. If mom listened to it, it can’t be helped. If dad did, it can’t be hip. This doesn’t mean that it was not, or is not good music. It just means that few points are to be scored in the school hallway if its blaring on the iPod. And of course, music isn’t good unless it’s blaring, right?
The release of Bob Mould’s Life and Times is just around the corner, but in the meantime, you don’t need to finger twiddle. Mould has always extended kindnesses to his hometown, and here are two if you haven’t yet heard. The first is that Mould will be playing the Varsity Theater on Monday, March 30, prior to the April 7 release of Life and Times. I’m not sure if the new album will be available for sale at the concert, but I would guess no? If anyone knows for certain, do share!
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