Labels: Second Nature
Review by: Andy Malcolm
The first time I put this on, I was distraught. I couldn’t believe that I had been suckered into buying yet another abomination of an emo alt rock album. I’d recently made a mental note to abandon that genre and, go stand on the beach, watch the tide sweep in and carry me away. But when someone of good taste who shall remain nameless (RemainsofFracturezine) recommended this to me in the UK punk rock geek chat room, I wasn’t about to take it lightly. So I bought it. And played it in the car on the way to Asda. It sounded shit. I was fuming. I was thinking up a hundred and one put downs. Thinking how I could slate the vocals for being so bad, for how singerboy comes across as Enigk fronting the Get Up Kids yet forgetting how to sing. But in the cold light of day that comes from playing this again, in calmer surroundings, I am more appreciative of this highly derivative brand of music. The singer is abysmal though, he just isn’t endearingly bad or quirky like Kinsella (T), or Davey or whatever. But the music is pretty decent for a style that’s being driven into the ground. Sure, it’s just a simple blend of Sunny Day, GUK and Mid Carson July, but there is just enough there to keep me listening, even though I have heard every minute of this before somewhere else. There’s nice bits, there’s pretty bits, there’s chuggy bits, there’s fast bits and there’s slow bits. Yeah. Oh look, I just noticed they come from the same goddamn state as GUK. What a surprise. Hey, I also found they have guys from Coalesce in. Hmmm.
I guess if you do prefer nice emo alt rock to that nasty emo where the singer screams a lot and the music makes you want to throw yourself out of a 23rd storey window, then you will likely decide to marry this album. And having put out both this and Waxwing, I guess Second Nature is Deep Elm Jr. basically, so to anyone who buys anyting that the Elm release the day it comes out, you will LOVE this record. Me, well. Anyone got a chainsaw? I got a tree to fell. Anyways, as soon as boys figure out that being into bands like this doesn’t get you girls, they’ll give up listenin’. Didn’t work for me anyway. Gosh, the packaging on this isn’t half beautiful with a capital *sigh* though.