Album Review: Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More

Posted on February 3, 2011 by bgibs122

One of the left-field “holy hell, everyone loves this” breakout songs of 2010 was “Little Lion Man” by English folkers Mumford & Sons Sigh No More. This album came out in 2009, and just this year got nominated for a couple Grammys. So, with nothing else to review and a current folk kick, I figured why not?

“Little Lion Man” (perhaps the best song on the album) is probably the draw for most people. The song has a build, good old fashion folk instrumentation, and a down home hoedown as a finisher. The only problem is that I just described the majority of the album. Too many of these songs plod along at a reasonable pace for the first two minutes, picks up at the chorus, and then throws the “Folk power, go!” switch for the Big Finish. On a song-by-song basis, it doesn’t really hurt the band because the finish is often satisfying, but it gets eye-roll worthy if you take the album in all at once.

That’s not me writing off Sigh No More, since this isn’t a bad album. “Winter Winds” eschews the usual formula to maintain a steady pulse, and it genuinely works. And despite falling into the band’s ‘three and a half minutes to crescendo’, “The Cave” bombast actually feels satisfying (thanks in part to Markus Dravs’ production). The aforementioned “Little Lion Man” burns with a passion rarely seen elsewhere on the album. And even though they’re barely memorable once the final acoustic strum fades out, songs like “Blank White Page” are kind of exciting while they last.

Even though Mumford & Sons consists of a bunch of Brits, they have an American folk fetish that shows up all over the album. From their instrumentation to their lyrics, Sigh No More has faded red, white, and blue paint on its acoustic guitar. “Dustbowl Dance” in particular revels in hard-times Americana, and American folk’s directness is present in most of these lyrics (“I really fucked it up this time, didn’t I, my dear?”, “If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy”, etc).

A good point of comparison for frontman Marcus Mumford is Arcade Fire’s Win Butler. Neither one sounds like a trained singer (although admittedly, Butler has gotten a lot better about this recently), but both manage to fit their style. Both have a tendency towards poetry or clunky lyrics without a middle ground, and each man tends to oversing. The key difference, though, is that Butler tends to go for broke on conviction; even with weak lyrics, he still sounds like he believes every word (hi there, Neon Bible). Meanwhile, Mumford manages to make hammy but heartfelt lyrics sound anonymous and impersonal, which takes everything down a notch.

That’s another bump with Sigh No More; there’s a lot of vocal redundancy. Almost every chorus has Fleet Foxes inspired harmonies and gang vocals, and Mumford tends to hold onto his words a lot in the same manner, which doesn’t help on the diversity front. The lack of diversity hurts the less dramatic numbers; “Timshel” isn’t a bad song on it’s own, but feels pointless and meandering, and the plaintive closer “After the Storm” takes uninteresting elements from the rest of the album and makes them into one musical wallpaper.

How ever much you enjoyed “Little Lion Man” is how much you’ll enjoy this record. Sigh No More isn’t a bad record, it’s just a fairly predictable and safe one. Song-to-song, it works fine, but as a whole, it bleeds together too well. Mumford and Sons have a lot of potential, though; all of the pieces are here, but the order is wrong. Three and a half stars.

tl;dr: Mumford and Sons’ debut is little on lion. 3.5/5.

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Radio Rant: Avril Lavinge – What The Hell

Posted on February 1, 2011 by bgibs122

…

*Yaaaaaaaaaaawn* Hello, everyone. Ugh, what day is it? Tuesday? Already…? Crap. Ok, here’s the deal: I was sick last week (I made a case for zombies existing on Thursday), my sleep cycle became a mobius wheel, and I totally sucked at sleeping over this weekend. So I’m just a little bit tired. But I’m awake, I’m here, let’s do this.

What the hell (no pun intended)? Avril’s still around? Waitaminute, I reviewed a Britney Spears song last week, and now I’m on Avril? Oh God, did I somehow sleep my way backwards in time to 2004?

If this was 2004, I’d probably–well, I wouldn’t have admitted it, but Avril was a guilty pleasure. She’s always dressed up her brand of manufactured but snappy pop rock to suit whatever’s popular; in 2002 she was a bratty skateboarder, in 2004 she was a bratty goth Evanescence fan, and in 2007 she was a (wait for it) bratty pop rawker. With the dominance of electropop, whatever will she do in 2011?

“What The Hell” starts with a “retro” (re: jacked from a ballpark organ) keyboard riff and some handclaps because why the hell not. “You say that I’m messing with your head/All because I was making out with your friend” well…yeah, if the rest of the song implies you’re in a relationship with the guy, making out with his friend might send some mixed signals. “Love hurts, whether it’s right or wrong/I can’t stop because I’m having too much fun” Ah, right, we’re in the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” kind of song, aren’t we? Great.

Alright, this song is almost completely empty. The music makes the mistake of downplaying Avril’s rock personality in favor of that damn keyboard whine and the dumb cheerleader beat from “Mic–wait, wait, wait. She already used that same beat in “Girlfriend”. And while that song was (oddly enough, saved by being) hyper obnoxious, “What The Hell” kinda just stands there.

At least until the chorus. Then the synth really kicks in, and oh thank God, some guitars knock life into the song. And this chorus does have a pretty strong hook; it’s catchy, kinda easy to singalong to, and once it gets in your head, it won’t leave. At the same time, it’s kinda conflicted; it wants to jump into pure craziness, but something about the synth line just isn’t doing it.

There’s no way to say it gracefully, so I’m just going to put it out there: this bridge is irritating. Leading in with “La la la la la la la” wasn’t the best idea, and the rest of it sounds like it’s trying too hard to have fun (no one’s buying “I’m messing with your head/When I’m messing with you in bed”). The prerequisite vocal riffing over the last chorus does add some oomph where the song needs it, and we end things on a suddenly quiet note.

It’s not so much that “What The Hell” is a bad song (although I certainly wouldn’t call it good) as much as it is that this is a bad fit for Avril. This feels more like P!nk material, or like something Katy Perry would do if she hadn’t gone club pop. I was able to catch a video of the song live on YouTube, and it does sound better with a live instrumentation. Another note, the double tracking on Lavinge’s vocals is more than a little grating; we know she’s always had a flat, nasally singing voice, we don’t need to emphasize it. But it’s hard to genuinely hate this song. It’s not good, but it’s something I’ll tolerate on the radio and forget about once it’s off.

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Album Review: The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

Posted on January 28, 2011 by bgibs122

The Decemberists have always been an ambitious bunch. Steady growing with every new release, the band finally seemed to reach their tipping point with 2009’s The Hazards of Love; their Big Rock Opera that was performed live essentially as a 50 minute song. And while it wasn’t exactly a misfire, THoL felt like a little too much; a little too rawkish, a little too progressive, convoluted, and pretentious to swallow. All of this makes The King Is Dead a collective exhale; the “let’s get basic” record that inevitably follows up a complicated work.

In fact, The King Is Dead makes a lot of sense if you think of it as a reaction to The Hazards of Love. Down to earth (well, as down to earth as The Decemberists will ever get), almost exclusively acoustic, and sweet, The King Is Dead is folksy almost to the point of alternative country. Acoustic guitars, fiddles, piano, and harmonica are at the forefront of this album, making it feel as warm and inviting as a warm blanket on a cold day. One aspect of The Decemberists that rarely gets any coverage is how many understated songs they have; for snappy numbers like “The Legionnaire’s Lament” or “The Chimbley Sweep”, there’s been tunes like “Cocoon” or “Red Right Ankle”.

That’s not to say that this is a lifeless record. “Calamity Song” shuffles along at a jaunty pace with a catchy chorus, and the dramatic “Down By the Water” could soundtrack a Western. Both songs (as well as the excellent opener “Don’t Carry It All”) feature R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who fits in seamlessly with the band. Other guests include Gillian Welch, Laura Viers, and Dave Rawlings, who contribute some backing vocals (“June Hymn” in particular benefits from their presence). Other attention grabber, the penultimate “This Is Why We Fight” doesn’t aim for the stratosphere, but the one-two guitar and drum punch of it is certainly welcome.

Six albums in, it feels a little redundant to bring up that The Decemberists are excellent instrumentalists, but it still bears saying. John Moen’s tasteful drumming is particularly noteworthy, as is Colin Meloy’s guitar work, which carries “January Hymn” (one of the prettiest songs the band has ever written). Meloy is still in great songwriter form as well. These aren’t songs meant for a stage, but for a campfire; the rustic silliness of “Rox in the Box”, the lovely “Rise to Me”, and the imagery of “Don’t Carry It All” are all quality work.

At the same time, The King Is Dead can be somewhat frustrating as a record. Knowing what the band is capable of, it’s a little disappointing not to hear them venture outside of their designated comfort zone. A quality album, absolutely, but not always the most interesting one. But still, it’s good to see a band that’s not afraid to try new sounds, four stars.

tl;dr: If you’ve got an itch for back-to-basics indie folk, The Decemberists have you covered. Four stars.

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Radio Rant: Britney Spears – Hold It Against Me

Posted on January 25, 2011 by bgibs122

Welcome back to Radio Rants, where the hits just keep on…hitting. A lot. Let’s fire up the old Billboard Hot 100 and get crackin’, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry have been trading the number one spot for awhile now, so I wonder whose on top this we–

Britney? Well, this should be fun. Britney Spears first appeared on the pop scene with “…Baby One More Time” 12 years ago, a fact that probably just made you feel old. Since then, she’s been a whirlwind of pop stardom, poor life choices, controversies, meltdowns, and comebacks. With 2008’s Circus, Britney finally seemed to put her woes behind her (at least she wasn’t a walking punchline), and now we’re looking at “Hold It Against Me”, the lead-off single from her seventh (?!) studio album.

As far as pop music careers go, Britney’s has always been fascinating. In part because of it’s highs and lows, but mostly because no one at any point has pretended that she’s not a major label creation. Camp Spears enlists the top producers, industry insiders, and possibly the most overworked PR team in the business, and miraculously, they’ve been able to keep her career afloat for over a decade.

But back to the matter at hand. “Hold It Against Me” is a 2011 continuation of Club Pop Britney, probably because it’s the big trend right now, and it worked wonders for her on Circus. We begin with beat that, while not bad, is so generic that it could be in an action movie or a ridiculously expensive clothing store’s PA and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Britney is in “seductive” mode for the verse, which means ending every line with a sigh, and the lyrics are garden variety “I’m at a club and you look good“, putting them at a modest 4 or 5 on Britney’s personal Scale of Lyrical Forwardness.

The chorus is classic Britney: musically spacious with vocals etching out a sing-song melody pushed way to the front. “If I said my heart was beating loud/If we could escape the crowd somehow/If I said I want your body now”. ..wait, the song’s called “Hold It Ag–oh no, please don’–“Would you hold it against me?” …really? I had hoped we could leave the “lameass joke pick-up lines as serious song titles” thing in 2010 with Young Money’s “Bedrock”, but apparently, it’s coming to the future with us.

Keeping with most of Britney’s later work, “Hold It Against Me” is busy with synth lines and sound effects. The only time that it truly becomes too much is as the chorus comes to it’s last lines; Britney’s computer-covered vocals, the beat, touches of piano, and a handful of other backing synths bury the listener under a mountain of studio treated noise. But mercifully, only for a few seconds.

Most of the song is pretty vanilla, but around the 2:16 mark, the beat stops, and stuttering synths come in. The ensuing bridge is one of my favorite moments of pop music so far into 2011; it sounds like someone actually cared enough to make something that did better than average. It also has this surprisingly spontaneous feel to it, and Britney sounds like more than a Pop Idol cutout. As the bridge continues, it turns into some sort of halfway teen-pop shoutout that sound interesting, but ultimately slows down any momentum before the song’s more club-pop leanings kick back in.

So, “Hold It Against Me”. A bad song? Nah, not really. As with all of Britney’s post-breakdown hits, it was meticulously crafted down to the last bleepy synth and vocal sigh, and it even sounds overstuffed, as if the song’s meant to say, “This is pop music”. At the same time, we’re running low on lyric power here (“Pop it like a hood”?), and Britney doesn’t sound as in-control here as she did on “Womanizer”. Overall a catchy and danceable preview of the album to come.

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