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Brand New
Deja Entendu


5.0
classic

Review

by Sowing STAFF
March 11th, 2011 | 1109 replies


Release Date: 2003 | Tracklist


An orange haze settled over the lake one morning while I was at my family’s mountain cabin. It was approximately 5:30 a.m. and the wildlife had just begun to stir from the cold night prior to the sun’s timid arrival on the horizon. I was laying motionless on the couch in front of the glass door, peering out at the rough surface of the water while the beginning of ‘Tautou’ slowly began pounding in my left ear…almost as if to emphasize my internal anguish with every wave that came crashing into the rocky shoreline. I always hated family vacations at that age. Nobody likes being sixteen years old and being separated from having any contact with their friends for a whole week. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a good relationship with my family; because I did. It was just this sinking feeling that everyone else was moving on without me. Like somehow my time and physical separation was causing me to lose touch with my life. I purchased Deja Entendu immediately before the start of my supposed “getaway”, and it was my introduction to Brand New. I didn’t know quite what to expect, but it was all I had in terms of an escape from my mom, dad, and brother as they constantly tried to coerce me into doing activities that I had no desire to be a part of. My love of nature, for some reason, was gone with my childhood. As I listened to my first ever Brand New album, I could literally feel the dynamics in my life shifting as questions arose in my mind…Will I always be alone?What am I doing with my life?Will I ever recapture the feeling of being a child again? Little did I know that as I worked my way through Deja Entendu, quickly becoming aware of my own maturity, that Brand New was doing the exact same thing.

This is an album that, in my opinion, is attached to my generation. It isn’t necessarily the best technically, instrumentally, or anything like that – but it grew up with us. We could relate to the way that Lacey screamed “This is the reason you’re alone, this is the rise and the fall” at the end of ‘Tommy Gun.’ We understood the desperation in his voice and the subtle undertones of sexual frustration in ‘Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis.’ We were just beginning to see how brilliant the lyrics were to ‘Play Crack The Sky’, a song that simultaneously deals with love, death, and relationships on a singular metaphorical level. These emotions were new to us, and we had a feeling that they meant something to the man singing about them too. Brand New’s debut, Your Favorite Weapon, was a regular exercise in pop-punk (and an excellent one at that), but Deja Entendu revolutionized the band’s sound. No longer were they the binge-drinking, drama infatuated kiddos that made songs like ‘Failure By Design’ and ‘ Seventy Times 7.’ Along with their increased experience in life came more mature topics and a sound that mirrored it without losing any of the energy and sarcasm that made Your Favorite Weapon such an eager listen. Evolving is always tricky, but in spite of the clear turmoil facing the band, they seemed to be handling it…which is something I admired, and tried to imitate as I came face to face with my own issues. More than anything, Deja Entendu was something people my age could look to for comfort; a friend who could show us the way when we had nobody else to talk to.

Even outside of the life phase transitions that I associate this with, Deja Entendu still retains qualities that continue to call to me in my adult life. The album was more than just an exodus from immaturity, it was an arrival at the complexities of adulthood. Just like any young adult blindly feeling his/her way about, Brand New was facing full-on maturity with nothing but a guess as to how to deal with it. The lyrical quotes, “die young and save yourself” and “is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry” suggest that Jesse Lacey was facing the crisis with just as many doubts as you or I would. Of course, ‘Play Crack The Sky’ is the ultimate example of the band’s development, complete with acoustic strumming mimicking ocean waves and reflective thoughts on love and mortality like “What they call love is a risk, cause you always get hit out of nowhere by some wave and end up on your own” and my personal favorite, “You know that you are not alone, need you like water in my lungs, this is the end.” Not only is it the best acoustic song in Brand New’s discography, but it may damn well be the best acoustic song of the last decade. As it closes out Deja Entendu, it shows that Brand New’s transformation is complete, and invites you to join them.

As a whole, I think we are all aware that Deja Entendu isn’t the most musically profound record of our generation. Hell, it isn’t even the best thing Brand New has done in that regard. But very few other albums have identified with us as well as this one. This album is equal parts music and companionship, and it refuses to leave you behind as you go from high school to college to your first job. At this point in my life, it is difficult to say if Deja Entendu will always mean this much to me. As life presents me with new obstacles and different challenges befall me, I may find that I have outgrown it. But even if that is true, it helped me get to where I am now…and ultimately, where I will be if and when I get over Deja Entendu. From that lonely morning at age sixteen all the way through my college graduation, I have continued to learn something new from it with each successive listen. For that reason alone, I will always look back and appreciate Deja Entendu - the album that defined my transition to adulthood.



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user ratings (4837)
4.1
excellent
other reviews of this album
1 of


Comments:Add a Comment 
Sowing
Moderator
March 12th 2011


44509 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

1. WooOOOOooo 100 reviews!

2. I realize this is extremely personal, but I fucking felt like it.

3. I know this is kind of like Knott’s review, but it is still pretty different and if you don’t think so you can stfu

4. I have now reviewed every Brand New LP, my fanboyism is complete (just in case it wasn’t overbearing enough before)



ps: in before "one review per day you subhuman scum"

WeepingBanana
March 12th 2011


11395 Comments


cool review

album's okay

Counterfeit
March 12th 2011


17836 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

love

Mordecai.
March 12th 2011


8409 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

favourite brand new album by far. nice review dude. congrats on 100.

Mordecai.
March 12th 2011


8409 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

but umm yeh break up those paras

Sowing
Moderator
March 12th 2011


44509 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

no, i don't want to!

DinoX
March 12th 2011


3582 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

This album can never have enough 5 reviews



Review is great and true, this album is also very personal for me as well.

Rev
March 12th 2011


9882 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Congrats on the big 100 man



Great review

Sowing
Moderator
March 12th 2011


44509 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Not sure how it would stack up as an actual review of the album; but i promised myself for my 100th I would just let my thoughts flow straight onto the paper and see what happened. It didn't take long and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Ire
March 12th 2011


41944 Comments


love

Counterfeit
March 12th 2011


17836 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

we are one

Ire
March 12th 2011


41944 Comments


heartache to heartache we stand

Sowing
Moderator
March 12th 2011


44509 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

im gonna go away for a little bit keep this thread bumped for me ire.

Ire
March 12th 2011


41944 Comments


LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD

james420
March 12th 2011


200 Comments


gay band overall

Slum
March 12th 2011


2580 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Let's not get out of hand now

Sowing
Moderator
March 12th 2011


44509 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

yeah james stfu

DinoX
March 12th 2011


3582 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

First you think Jane Doe is gay and now Deja Entendu?



I must be the biggest homo in the world and I love it so.

james420
March 12th 2011


200 Comments


just a terrible band

Ire
March 12th 2011


41944 Comments


First you think Jane Doe is gay and now Deja Entendu?

I must be the biggest homo in the world and I love it so.



he will KILL u



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