 artist: secondsmile
album: i am not romeo; you are not
juliet
label: big scary monsters
released: 4/10/04 (europe)
by: eduardo moutinho
Seriously, I have become disillusioned with the overwhelming presence of the MTV/Fuse-fueled dilution machine in our underground music scene. It seems that every band that’s coming out and joining a well-known independent label has some sort of agenda. Plus, great bands are changing their sound to join in on the money cock sucking. Yeah, you read that correctly. Most bands
don’t seem to be making music for fun anymore. Rather, the more and more I listen to new bands that are coming out, I can see the music playing in the background of an episode of Real World/Road Rules Challenge.
Shoot me in the head, please…
The passion is fading away from our scene. More importantly, the music is losing its identity. For every Jairus that emerges, a dozen Hawthorne Heightses seem to follow.
I felt such a rant was appropriate as a segue into this review. Good music is still out there. Yet, with exception to The Fall of Troy, the best band I have listened to since Jairus happens to also be from the United Kingdom, not the United States. This band
is known as Secondsmile, and they are incredible. Interestingly enough, Secondsmile has a close relationship with Jairus; both bands are touring England this summer. Not only do they share a strong camaraderie, they seem to feed off of each other in a sonic sense as well.
Secondsmile is all about driving post-hardcore. I Am Not Romeo; You Are Not Juliet is the band’s debut EP on Big Scary Monsters, one of the UK’s up-and-coming independent labels. The music on the album has wonderful ever-changing tempos made up of intricate guitar work, choppy high-pitched vocals, and a rare
sense of raw passion. The songs are unpredictable and fulfilling. The best song on the album, Poets Unite in Hate (Their Gift for Love), starts out with a deliciously frenetic pace, yet it ends with an almost old-school hopesfall melodic breakdown. Fantastic.
The instruments are wonderful. In addition to the aforementioned guitar mastery, the drums and bass are also quite good. Two other songs, “My Tribute to Those Eyes that Can Sink Ships” and “Easy Girls Are Always One Fuck Away,” have little nuances here and there that are plainly and simply cool. There are pretty little
string interludes, single-guitar led “mini-bridges” to
hard-hitting verses, effectively executed drum fills, and so forth. I even believe that there are certain portions on the EP played in odd times, which is always appreciated. Vocals share a lot in common with Jairus; the singer loves the high-pitched wailing. It’s appropriate, and there is some good singing thrown
into the mix as well.
The only other song on the EP, “This is Your Hometown and it’s Cutting You,” is one of those slow-paced atmospheric songs. Granted, it doesn’t follow melodicore conventions by having hollow ghost-like singing in the background; the song does seem like an
added bonus, nothing more. It’s not bad though.
Overall, this is an awesome collage of tracks, and I am excited to see what this band has to offer in the future. Since they are from the UK, where the mass media conglomerate still has its money cannons aimed at pop princes and princesses (look up Busted if you dare), the small rock bands still seem to be playing music out of
pure joy. Hell, Secondsmile is unknown to most of the British… Unfortunately, while it’s great to hear awesome music coming from other countries (Amanda Woodward is another great up-and-coming band, from France), it seems like the good sound is thriving on
other shores. Hopefully, I’ll be able to review a great record from a new domestic band soon enough.
Well, I did mention The Fall of Troy. I guess they count… I’ll write about them shortly.
favorite song: “poets unite in hate (their gift for love)"
rating: 94%/100%
listen to secondsmile |
