•
Rating: The album opens with the notes of “On Life's Highway,” a Gospel from the '20s written by Betrand Brown and included as the opening and closing of the album at the behest of Jesse Lacey, the band's frontman.
A female voice cradles us for a little over a minute in a delicate and intense manner.
Far away from any road
Roams my heart in solitude
For a moment, we agree to be lulled with our approval. However, we know well enough that this aura of peace and melancholic tranquility is not meant to last.
With unexpected aggression and ferocity, “Vices” bursts violently, officially starting the album and confirming that approach of detachment from faith already hinted at in “Jesus” (see “The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me”) and which will be revisited in the album (“Noro”).
Much can be said about Brand New. Whether they are particularly original remains to be seen (the title of their second album “Déjà Entendu,” already heard, seems emblematic); however, credit must be given to them for their willingness not to always sound precisely the same. With this “Daisy,” they do not completely rehash, as they could have, the excellent predecessor (which I consider a true masterpiece), but choose to explore new paths while firmly holding onto what they know how to play.
While on one hand, tracks like “Bed”, “At the bottom” (the first single released), “Bought a Bride” do not offer anything new, following the typically Brand New formula of the third album (which does not mean they lack interest), other moments of the album stand out for experimentation and courage. A glaring example is “Be Gone,” an acid blues supported by a mechanical percussion drive and a simply unsettling vocal style. It couldn't be further from certain easy-listening choruses they had accustomed us to. Another track I particularly appreciated is the title track, “Daisy,” a song in the band's style and poetic tone that proceeds in its first half with an electronic drum, interspersed with a child's voice. However, I believe it is in the closure that we find the true gem of the album. “Noro” starts softly, with Lacey's voice as tense as possible.
Little light, lead us through the night
And if we die, burn the forest.
...then in a crescendo of desolate and inexorable melancholy. One of the emotional peaks of the album without a doubt, with the frontman’s voice returning to exorcise his demons.
I'm on my way to hell.
Ending the album as it began, leaving all frustrations behind.
Let's make it clear that “Daisy,” unfortunately, does not reach the levels of its predecessor for me.
The quality of the tracks is noticeably lower; few songs in this album manage to convey the same intensity that dwells in songs like “Jesus,” “Degausser,” “Limousine,” “Handcuffs.”
So if “The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me” deserves the 5 stars from me, I give this “Daisy,” despite partially appreciating it a lot, only 3.
Despite this, I continue to eagerly await their next work, even though the latest singles released haven't always thrilled me.
Brand New, Daisy (2009): A good level album, although the comparison to their masterpiece is inevitable. It's up to you to decide if it measures up or not. Recommended album.
Favorite tracks: “Bed,” “You Stole,” “Be Gone,” “Daisy,” “Noro”
Least favorite tracks: “Vices,” “Sink”
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Bought a Bride (03:06)
Trees will make a forest
Trees will make a bow
These are all the harder
Words you have to know
If everyone's a structure
Where their own savior sits
I'm a little red house
But no one's living in it
Cars are little blood cells
We are oxygen
City is the airways
Suburbs appendages
She was feeling lonely
Tired of the hive
Rented out a family
And he bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Little cities' names on very lonely maps
They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
Where are all the seedlings
We grew for violins?
Down in Jersey lumber
Still in prosthetic limbs
Should've been a soldier
I could've fought and died
There's no revolution
So I bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Coming down the aisle while the horns play Taps
They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
If somehow I was new and everything was unsaid
I'd go and buy a hammer, never sing again
Sleeping on a stairway
Dreamt I had a boat
Sailed it out the harbor
Shot it full of holes
Folded up my prayer book
I couldn't see the lines
Drowning in a kelp bed
I bought a bride.
06 Daisy (03:06)
[Recording:]
And we sing this morning that wonderful and grand old message.
And I don't know about you but I never get tired of it
Number 99: Just As I Am.
I'm a mountain that has been moved
I'm a river that is all dried up
I'm an ocean nothing floats on
I'm a sky that nothing wants to fly in
I'm a sun that doesn't burn hot
I'm a moon that never shows its face
I'm a mouth that doesn't smile
I'm a word that no one ever wants to say...
[Child speaking:]
Uh, uh, by the will of thee
He wasn't finding anybody when he was on a shelf
I saw him in my dream
I'm a mountain that has been moved
I'm a fugitive that has no legs to run
I'm a preacher with no pulpit
Spewing a sermon that goes on and on...
Well if we take all these things and we bury them fast
And we'll pray that they turn to seeds, to roots and then grass
It'd be all right, it's all right, it'd be easier that way
Or if the sky opened up and started pouring rain
Like you knew he was trying to start things over again
It'd be all right, it's all right, it'd be easier that way
Well if we take all these things and we bury them fast
And we'll pray that they turn to seeds, to roots and then grass
It'd be all right, it's all right, it'd be easier that way
Or if the sky opened up and started pouring rain
Like you knew he was trying to start things over again
It'd be all right, it's all right, it'd be easier that way
(You've done enough to be saved
But you're gonna miss out
Now you don't know your rights from your wrongs
It's the greatest of love
Now don't say you'll be there and then leave
Or don't mention all the hurt that you've seen
Or don't say he's in love
It's the greatest of love)
Loading comments slowly
