Review Summary: Dutch quintet find solace and sales in the world of torrents, but their music can't always find strength in itself
The Netherlands, it's an interesting place. By interesting don't think weird (it is), nor take it in a negative way (place is awesome), as much as, there is just something special about Dutch culture, and the country itself. Seasons of hazy skies and fog, canal cities, socially open, great fries, and my god the cheese is fantastic. The country also has a deep history of forward thinking, visually jarring, visceral artists, from Rembrandt, to Van Gogh, down to Mondrian and Escher to musicians like The Nips. So, it just seems to make sense that if you go to Silence Is Sexy's website not only can you get very (
very) easy access to their second proper LP
This Ain't Hollywood, but it's the band itself offering it up to you with open arms. Apparently these guys have a history of it as well, a few years back, they began to champion Mini-nova and the use of torrents as a positive way of promotion, which garnered them awards, radio play and record sales. This just seems right coming from a band who's homeland is pretty level headed and good at turning taboos into turnover. Not only that, watching them in interviews or in concert, they seem to project a serious sense of astonishment and wonder, almost at the idea that anyone would listen at all. Seemingly blind to the fact that on
This Ain't Hollywood they craft some truly killer tunes.
Post-punk would be the easiest category to drop
This Aint Hollywood into, but it would also be selling the album short. It may just be the post-punk songs are the best, and it's the style of music this band seems to play very well. Flowing opener "Come Back To You" blasts off with a wall of jangly guitars and pounding rhythm, all before the fuzz drops and lead singer Hendrik-Jan de Wolff chimes in with his first coo:"
One day our house must burn down/my memory will fade." It's in this first 50 or so seconds that
This Ain't Hollywood not only professes its finest moment, but, also indicates a stepping point of sorts for a band who's potential is quite literally, limitless. Problem is really, how much they
do limit themselves on record, when brought up to the table, they don't always deliver. Judging from the first three tracks though, you wouldn't think it. Including aforementioned opener, the following 2 -3 punch of
Night Out and
1984 are easily just as well crafted and infectious. Both leaning more towards the poppier side of things (The Strokes & The Replacements respectively) both just as well textured and written, hell
Night Out is probably the best song on here. It's when you reach the mid section of the album that things start to get a little fuzzy. Wayward experimentation, poor production choices, and, sadly, boring songs bring down what would normally be a very strong record.
By the time you hit the title track,
This Aint Hollywood takes a sharp turn from the likes of an engaging, eloquent Gus Van Zandt to that of a Baz Luhrmann or, at times, Michael Bay. Over stuffing their songs with too many tweaks and toys, and emphasizing the *** out of them. Often choosing to add a production sheen to their background music, as though you couldn't hear the ***ing small orchestra and awkward choir in 'On The Beach' already or something. That's just the problem too, with an almost lack of faith in the listener, and the power of their build ups, Silence Is Sexy fall, countless times, into the trap of "
more stuff = more Epic." Which works with army sizes, but not sheet music. Forgetting that live their crescendos will not have epic string backings in those small clubs, and that they're going to have to rely on the movement and swelling of the notes themselves to create that affect.
If not employing way too much, they just don't use enough. Final three, "Talk," "Spider," and "Closing Titles" with their acoustic strums and humble beginnings fizzle out to nothing by their conclusion and only promote a vibrant use of the
skip button. Single bright spot amongst all the snores is back-ender "Where Were You" and it's wavy, spooky syths mixed with fuzzed out reverb give yet another hint at what this band
can do. Now, again, there is a 3 up there for a reason,
This Ain't Hollywood is a good record, with a reasonable number of very good songs and a bunch of 'meh' ones, nothing horrible, nothing ear piercingly bad. Thing is, all those 'meh' songs, are produced by a band, who can, and do, clearly make better music -- now they just need to record an entire album of it.
