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Rating: The artistic career of the band originating from Long Island, New York, in many ways, can be likened to that of another highly renowned band in the underground circuits, namely Thrice.
Like the latter, the evolution and maturation of Brand New over the years is significant and in some ways unexpected: starting with a youthful pop-punk sound similar to that of Taking Back Sunday, as evidenced in "Your Favourite Weapon" (2001), the group with the second album "Deja Entendu" changes direction, moving towards a less vigorous and carefree sound, but one that is more deep and refined, achieving what can rightfully be called the album of maturity. Building from these coordinates, the third chapter "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me" (2006) was conceived and developed, while "Daisy" was released a few months ago.
Now let's talk about "Deja Entendu" (2003), a title that, placed next to the band's name, becomes a rather amusing musical oxymoron.
11 tracks, with an intro of soft, subdued, and atmospheric tones included (the fantastic "Tautou"), good emo-rock/indie-rock with just a few small punk-rock shades, harkening back to the band's musical origins.
Three standout tracks? "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows," "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis," and "Guernica."
I chose these three compositions because they represent both the qualitative peak of the album and because each embodies a different side of the same picture.
"The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows": Probably the track that best describes the New York band, as well as their most well-known piece. It starts as a semi-ballad with calm tones, after a truly well-done intro, and then bursts into a remarkably captivating chorus.
"Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis": a pearl dispensing pure emotions. A great ballad, an example of refined and elegant pop. A continuous series of melancholic arpeggios sustain the composition alone for three-quarters, until the entry of distorted guitars and drums, which accompany a choral finale worthy of applause, with the reprise of the chorus this time sung vigorously and almost liberatingly. An excellent mix of light and dark, distinct fullness and emptiness.
"Guernica": Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the same song. Dreamy and anguished verses, dark atmosphere, low tones, contrasting with explosive and fast choruses and a central part in which the good Jesse Lacey even ventures into scream tones. A rarity this, if we also exclude "Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" another fast track of the work with punk-rock/hc echoes. Enveloping and melancholic first with breathtaking riffing, aggressive later. It's a pity it lasts so little.
Other noteworthy episodes are indeed the vigorous explosions of "Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" with its hypnotic bass line supporting the remarkably hypnotic verses, the acoustic ballad with an intimate and dreamy touch of "Play Crack The Sky" and "Jaws Theme Swimming" with its chorus reaching towards the future, tomorrow, caressing you with its calm atmosphere, here once again a hypnotic bass enters and exits the musical enclosure and almost seven minutes of "Good To Know That If I Never Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die", also with its mood changes.
Among the 11 episodes, instead, "I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light" stands out a bit with its strangely cheerful and joyful mood, with almost Latin influences, in antithesis with the general storyline of the album, resulting not bad, but slightly out of place. While "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" with its vintage touch from Albion is the one that strikes me least of all. Finally, a bit too verbose proves to be "I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don’t".
Brand New's sound is dreamy mood, often and willingly veiled by a strong underlying sense of melancholy, capable of surfacing repressed memories in the listener's mind, distant situations, but also of visualizing natural landscapes and large open spaces, and generating a sense of nostalgia in the listener. An album that makes you travel with your mind and spirit, the artwork, in this sense, is strongly illustrative of what is described.
The main architect of all this is primarily Jesse Lacey's voice, here visceral and mature, often and willingly whispered, refining every detail, resulting in tone and intensity distant from those of great past hits like "Seventy times 7" and "Jude law and a semester abroad".
For those unfamiliar with the band's name, the advice is to catch up on this "Deja Entendu" crucial and intermediate step, to grasp the evolution of Jesse Lacey, Vincent Accardi, and their companions from the origins to today.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Tautou (01:42)
I'm sinkin' like a stone in the sea
I'm burning like a bridge from your body
I'm sinkin' like a stone in the sea
I'm burning like a bridge from your body
I'm sinkin' like a stone in the sea
I'm burning like a bridge from your body
02 Sic transit gloria... Glory Fades (03:06)
Keep the noise low, she doesn't wanna blow it
Shaking head to toe while your left hand does the show me around
Quickens your heartbeat
It beats me straight into the ground
You don't recover from a night like this
A victim, still lying in bed, completely motionless
A hand moves in the dark to a zipper
Hear a boy dressed in tourniquet sheets
Barely whisper, "This is so messed up"
Upon arrival the guests had all stared
Dripping wet and clearly depressed, he'd headed straight for the stairs
No longer cool, but a boy in a stitch
Unprepared for a life full of lies and failing relationships
(Up the stairs, the station where the act becomes the art of growing up)
He keeps his hands low
He doesn't wanna blow it
He's wet from head to toe and his eyes give her the up and the down
His stomach turns and he thinks of throwing up
But the body on the bed beckons forward and he starts growing up
The fever, the focus
The reasons that I had to believe you weren't too hard to sell
Die young and save yourself
The tickle, the taste of
It used to be the reason I breathed, but now it's choking me up
Die young and save yourself
She hits the lights
This doesn't seem quite fair
Despite everything he learned from his friends, he doesn't feel so prepared
She's breathing quiet and smooth
He's gasping for air
"This is the first and last time," he says
She fakes a smile and presses her hips into his
He keeps his hands pinned down at his sides
He's holding back from telling her exactly what it really feels like
He is the lamb, she is the slaughter
She's moving way too fast and all he wanted was to hold her
Nothing that he tells her's really having an effect
He whispers that he loves her but she's probably only looking for s-
(Up the stairs, the station where the act becomes the art of growing up)
So much more than he could ever give
A life full of lies and a meaningful relationship
He keeps his hands pinned down at his sides
He waits for it to end and for the aching in his guts to subside
The fever, the focus
The reasons that I had to believe you weren't too hard to sell
Die young and save yourself
The tickle, the taste of
It used to be the reason O breathed, but now it's choking me up
Die young and save yourself
Up the stairs, the station where the act becomes the art of growing up
The fever, the focus
The reasons that I had to believe you weren't too hard to sell
Die young and save yourself
The tickle, the taste of
It used to be the reason I breathed, but now it's choking me up
Die young and save yourself
03 I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light (03:57)
The time has come for colds and overcoats.
We're quiet on the ride, we're all just waiting to get home
Another week away, my greatest fear
I need the smell of summer, I need its noises in my ears
If looks could really kill, then my profession would staring
Know we do this cause we care and not for the thrill
Collect calls to home to tell them that I realize
That everyone who lives will someday die and die alone
And we won't let you in though we're down and out
We won't let you in
You win
I wrote more postcards than hooks, I read more maps than books
Feel like every chance to leave is another chance I should have took
Every minute is a mile. I've never felt so hollow
I'm an old abandoned church with broken pews and empty aisles
My secrets for a buck, watch me as I cut myself wide open on this stage
Yes, I am paid to spill my guts
I won't see home till spring, oh, I would kill for the Atlantic
But I am paid to make girls panic while I sing
And we won't let you in though we're down and out
We won't let you in
And we won't let you in, we don't want what isn't ours
We won't let you in
You win
And the coastline is quiet
While we're quietly losing control
Yes, we're silent but sure we inventened the cure
That will wash out my memories of her
"The harpoon is loaded. The cage is lowered
The water is red," like you
And we won't let you in though we're down and out
We won't let you in
And we won't let you in, we don't want what isn't ours
We won't let you in
You win
04 Okay I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don't (05:35)
I'm heaven sent, don't you dare forget
I am all you've ever wanted
What all the other boys all promised
Sorry I told, I just needed you to know
I think in decimals and dollars
I am the cause to all your problems
Shelter from cold, we're never alone
Coordinate brain and mouth
Then ask me what its like to have myself so figured out
I wish I knew
I hope this song starts a craze
The kind of song that ignites the airways
The kind of song that makes people glad to be where they are
With whoever they're there with
This is war
Every line is about who I don't want to write about anymore
Hope you come down with something they can't diagnose
Don't have the cure for
Holding on to your grudge
Oh it's so hard to have someone to love
And keeping quiet is hard
'Cause you can't keep a secret if it was never was a secret to start
At least pretend you didn't want to get caught
We're concentrating on falling apart
We were contenders, now we're throwing the fight
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
Oh we're so c-c-c-c-c-controversial
We are entirely smooth
We admit to the truth, we are the best at what we do
And these are the words you wish you wrote down
This is the way you wish your voice sounds
Handsome and smart
Oh my tongue's the only muscle on my body that works harder than my heart
And it's all from watching TV
And from speeding up my breathing
I wouldn't stop if I could, oh it hurts to be this good
Holding on to your grudge
Oh it hurts to always have to be honest with the one that you love
Oh so let it go
We're concentrating on falling apart
We were contenders, now we're throwing the fight
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
We're concentrating on falling apart
We were contenders, now we're throwing the fight
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
This is the grace only we can bestow
This is the price you pay for loss of control
This is the break in the bend
This is closest of calls
This is the reason you're alone
This is the rise and the fall
We're concentrating on falling apart
We were contenders, now we're throwing the fight
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
We're concentrating on falling apart
We were contenders, now we're throwing the fight
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
I just want to believe
08 Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis (05:19)
With one or two I get used to the room
We go slow when we first make our moves
But five or six bring you out to the car
Number nine with my head on the bar
And it's sad, but true. Out of cash and I.O.U's
I've got desperate desires and unadmirable plans
My tongue will taste the gin and malicious intent
Bring you back to the bar. Get you out of the cold
A sober straight face gets you out of your clothes
And they're scared that we know all the crimes they'll commit
Who they'll kiss before they get home
I will lie awake
Lie for fun and fake the way I hold you
Let you fall for every empty word I say
Barely conscious in the door where you stand
Your eyes are fighting sleep while your mouth makes your demands
You laugh at every word, trying hard to be cute
I almost feel sorry for what I'm gonna do
And your hair smells of smoke
Who will cast the first stone?
You can sin or spend the night all alone
Brass buttons on your coat hold the cold
In the shape of a heart that they cut out of stone
You're using all your looks that you've thrown from the start
If you let me have my way, I swear I'll tear you apart
'Cause it's all you can be
You're a drunk and you're scared
It's ladies night, all the girls drink for free
I will lie awake
Lie for fun and fake the way I hold you
Let you fall for every empty word I say
I will lie awake
Lie for fun and fake the way I hold you
Let you fall for every empty word I say
09 Guernica (03:23)
Ever since I was young
Your word is the word that always won
Worry and wake the ones you love
A phone call I'd rather not receive
Please use my body while I sleep
My lungs are fresh and yours to keep
Kept clean and they will let you breathe
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear but you forget to wind
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these
So I sat alone and waited out the night
The best part of what has happened was
The part I must have missed
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around
I'm not writing my goodbyes
I submit no excuse
If this is what I have to do
I owe you every day I wake
If I could I would shrink myself
Sink through your skin to your blood cell
Remove whatever makes you hurt
But I am too weak to be your cure
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear but you forget to wind
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these
So I sat alone and waited out the night
The best part of what has happened was
The part I must have missed
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around
I'm not writing my goodbyes
I'm not letting you check out
You will beat this starting now
And you will always be around
I'm there to monitor your breathing
I will watch you while you're sleeping
I will keep you safe and sound
Does anybody remember back when you were very young?
Did you ever think that you would be this blessed?
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these
So I sat alone and waited out the night
The best part of what has happened was
The part I must have missed
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around
I'm not writing my goodbyes
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Other reviews
By fede
"Deja Entendu will surely be appreciated not only by emocore music lovers but also by all those who appreciate original and fresh albums."
"The track Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades is masterfully driven by the bass, creating tension that culminates in a vibrant chorus."
