 | Tracklist:
1. The Myth About Real Life
2. I Don't Believe We've Met
3. Naysayers
4. The Same Original Idea
Release Date: 09/01/2009 | |
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| Summary: Aficionado’s sound has been shaved down to a general concept, leaning towards their post-hardcore brethren in a way that never undermines the indie pop invariably intertwined (or vice versa, for that matter). |
Nearly a year and a half ago, I described Aficionado’s proper debut Circus Music as “an album that can’t seem to find a formula that it wants to fully flesh out.” The band listed a long list of influences and it showed, owing as much to the hardcore spectacle type like At the Drive-In as the theatrical sort like the Polyphonic Spree. The talent on display was obvious (at ten members and so many influences, Circus Music is shoved together pretty succinctly rather than the sprawl you might perceive from these descriptions) but the effect was of ten individuals doing the best they could to find a union without ever moving forward. The Myth About Real Life is the band finding their traction.
Aficionado’s sound has been shaved down to a general concept, leaning towards their post-hardcore brethren in a way that never undermines the indie pop invariably intertwined (or vice versa, for that matter). The band members have been whittled down to eight, with Nicholas Warchol taking his position once again as center ringleader, though backing vocals have been heavily incorporated and spread out amongst the other members. It creates for an album less flustered in sound than in its execution, though the band’s transformation remains striking. The four song EP is an inconsistent but continually appealing turnabout, housing too many ideas for its running time and yet charming anyway with ideas much better and more inventive than its predecessor.
Aficionado are still pulling tricks from names they know (there’s an iPod somewhere that lists Refused, the Blood Brothers, and probably some folk metal as well), finding a kinetic energy in segueing between them and in many cases blending them in a mostly effortless way. “I Don’t Believe We’ve Met” recalls the aforementioned styles in gratifying ways between intermittently bland choruses, a problem that plagues the album’s defining track “The Same Original Idea”. Guitarists August Rosa and James Kehoe build trembling chords atop each other, Craig Dutra comes in on the piano, Laura Carozza ***ing knocks the floor out with her flute, the pre-chorus builds with triumphant glee (courtesy of Mark O'Brien on drums, providing an inspired balance of hardcore and baroque)- and the chorus does about as much as you've already heard three times before.
The problem then might still lie in structure. The Myth About Real Life (despite lyrically being an equal parts vindication/response to the ideas expressed in my earlier review) is the band honing their sound and understanding it but still kind of wondering how to form it. This most especially for Warchol, who turns out to be the weakest link in a chain strengthening around him. He has the tendency to just yell his melodies, especially in the iffy choruses, lacking the power to harmonize with the beautiful Carozza. A direct contrast to the moments of inspired inflections, like the ones that bookend the percussion on “Naysayers”.
The EP setting allows for some leeway with the rough edges, and the band has picked the right direction to move in. They’d do well to sprawl out over a sophomore record now that they’ve grasped their concept, collect more creative interludes like the one halfway through “Naysayers”. Maybe spin Emergency & I a bit. Whatever the case, I like the enthusiasm, boys. Keep it up.
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