Showing posts with label thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thursday. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Thursday - 'No Devolución'

When it was released in 2009, Common Existence felt like a tentative step towards a new style for post-hardcore mavericks/screamo survivors Thursday. That record had plenty of throwback moments like “Resuscitation of a Dead Man,” but it also hinted at a more post-rock/shoegaze direction for the band. No Devolución confirms Common Existence as a transitional record, as there is very little to connect this new album to Full Collapse. This new album pulls in bits and pieces of Envy, The Cure, and Ride. Aided greatly by David Fridmann’s production, it’s a new, ethereal beginning.

Fittingly, the album title translates from Spanish to “no returns.” Common Existence was a tentative step forward; No Devolución is the clear break from tradition. “Fast to the End” seems like the propulsive opener Thursday fans would expect, but something seems off. Frontman Geoff Rickley’s voice sound different – there’s more singing than screaming. The guitars have a more ethereal quality, and even when they go into metal dynamics, there’s still a muted quality to them. Everything blurs together into a swirling haze. There are even moments where the vocals fade into the guitars, making shoegaze comparisons even more relevant.

The one guy who comes out of this looking good is bassist Tim Payne. The low end on No Devolución is stellar, and for all its’ ambience, the songs still have a groove to them. Whether or not that’s all thanks to Payne or the way Fridmann blends together all the instruments can’t be certified, the low end here sure is enticing.

At 53 minutes, though, No Devolución might be a chore for some. It’s Thursday’s least accessible album, a haunting mess about identity crises and relationship issues that encapsulate the entirety of (common) existence. The songs blur together after a while, and while there are some deviations (Oh, this one has more piano!), generally the tunes are of the spooky lovelorn variety. And sometimes it would be nice to hear Rickley let loose a scream; "Open Quotes" sounds limp without one.
No Devolución is a fine record, but it marks a big departure for Thursday. It is not anthemic. It is not emo. It is not rocking. But is a great little something to slip on late at night, and yet another quality effort that will probably alienate half the band’s fan base while attracting new fans and maybe even winning back old ones.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Vinyl Vednesday 12/30/2009


[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it kinda is. This week, VV takes a look at three of the top albums of 2009. You can find my best of ’09 list over at punknews.org; an expanded edition will run sometime around New Year’s. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]


Records: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (2009) on black, Silversun Pickups’ Swoon (2009) on black, and Thursday’s Common Existence (2009) on black with the Thursday dove logo etched into the D-side.


Place of Purchase: Pains and Swoon came from my favorite record store, Repo Records in Philadelphia. Common Existence came from Hot Topic.


Thoughts: Got-damn do I enjoy me some Pains o’ Being Pure of Something Something Something. Super catchy, kinda fuzzy, twee/Ramones hybrid. Good stuff. Every so often, I pick up an album based purely on hype, and Pains was one such purchase. I bought it on CD without knowing any of the songs, fell in love, and then went back to Repo for the vinyl version. This album was pretty much perfect for every season – haunting hooks in the winter and fall; lo-fi romance for the spring and summer. Gosh I hope they stick around.


I was introduced to Silversun Pickups when Wonka Vision Magazine slapped ’em on the cover around the time of my internship. I bought their record Carnavas on the strength of breakout single “Lazy Eye,” fell in love, and then proceeded to soak up as many SSPU tunes as I could. It was quite the happy day when sophomore full-length Swoon dropped. It’s not as good as Carnavas, but damn is it a close second. The band served up another helping of androgynous shoegaze-leaning alt-rock. Sometimes the album rocks out with its genitals out (“There’s No Secrets This Year”) and sometimes it kicks back a bit (“Getting Old is Getting Old”), but it’s always entertaining.


Common Existence made me giddy in 2009. First I got stoked on the fact that Thursday overcame the major label grinder. There was an awkward lil period where I feared it would be a Full Collapse retread – lead single “Resuscitation of Dead Man” seemed too 2001 – but that quickly ended once I heard the album’s 45 minutes of tunes. Common Existence gives me the feeling that Thursday could pretty much do whatever they want. “Last Call” shows how much they dominate the post-hardcore game, but “Circuits of Fever” and “Love Has Led Us Astray” reveal a band that knows how to write more ethereal jams. Punk bands tend to have short, fiery lifespans, but, thankfully, Thursday has been going strong for over a decade.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Thursday - 'Common Existence'

OK, hands in the air; who thought Thursday was going to bounce back from the major label death machine this well? More importantly, who thought that Epitaph Records was ever going to sign a good act again? Ever since the label tried “expanding” a few years back, their roster has been cluttered by shitty acts from all walks of life: rap, metal, and whatever the frick Panic at the Disco clones like The Higher count as have been diluting a once vital punk organization. Thursday’s true return to indie-dom, Common Existence, is a good fit for Epitaph. Both sides prove they still know what good post-hardcore music sounds like.


But enough expounding on Epitaph’s poor life decisions. Common Existence washes the bad taste of Sage Francis and Escape the Fate right out. The record is somehow forward-thinking, further pushing the more atmospheric approach glimpsed at on the band’s split with Envy last year, yet speckled with retro stylings of previous albums. The leading track (and single) “Resuscitation of a Dead Man” is arguably the closest thing the band has done to revisiting their old (pardon the term) screamo sound. There are gang vox and harsh riffs and even some full-on screaming from Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath. In truth, it’s a lot more fluid than Full Collapse ever was – flush with needling guitars and floating keyboard lines – but that chorus is pure 2001.


Hopefully, all those wieners who thought Thursday peaked early (you fools!) will be stroked enough by McIlrath, because Common Existence runs the heck away from that sound for a little while. “Last Call” is a lumbering behemoth of song that has more in common with Ride and Deftones than it does Taking Back Sunday or Hawthorne Heights. “As He Climbed the Dark Mountain” gets recycled from the Envy split, which is only half-disappointing since it’s still a killer tune. “Friends in the Armed Forces” revisits some of War All the Time’s ethereal/heavy attitude. Frontman Geoff Rickley gets as explicit as he can with lines like “I’m sick of tying yellow ribbons / Praying not to see / Another folded flag to a mourning mother / He was an army of one but they’ll find another.” We’ve had plenty of anti-war and pro-soldier anthems in the last six years; this is one of the better songs to blend the two.


The record’s middle drops hardcore for an almost shoegazey effect. “Beyond the Visible Spectrum” starts out rocking, but fades into haze. “Time’s Arrow” cuts through some of the fuzz to offer an acoustic contemplation on abuse in reverse, with some trippy backwards audio to boot. “Unintended Long Term Effects” goes back to rocking balls. Partnered with the more ethereal “Love Has Led Us Astray” (the only song here that feels undercooked) and “You Were the Cancer” later on, it gives the record a pleasing ebb and flow. “Circuits of Fever” opens with eerie feedback, throws in some pounding drums, and then takes its time finding its groove. It starts off like a standard rocker before bassist Tim Payne leads it into a second life as a triumphant toe-tapper.


So, what is Common Existence? Perhaps I can define it by what it isn’t. It doesn’t constantly pummel, which would have been great but grating. Common Existence tries to explore as many vibes as possible for a broader picture. It’s a pretty expansive album. It’s neither Thursday’s darkest (that would be War All the Time) nor their most anthemic (A City By the Light Divided, son!). It’s a bit more distorted than that, and like the black and white photos included, it can get pretty haunting.. Rickley is a little more buried in effects, with the reverb pushed up. The guitar parts are less distinct, blurring together into a beautiful mess. And that’s kind of like life, our common existence, in general.