Best of 2009, Pt. 3
Jan. 5th, 2010 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urgencytobleedI guess I should have just added these to part two because there really aren't that many left. But all... four of them are very good!
Style-wise, Shapes is one of the most cohesive albums I've ever heard outside of an actual concept album and this quality turns out to be both a blessing and a curse: on one hand, it's nice to see a band put so much thought into presenting their album as a complete package instead of a random collection of songs; on the other hand, at a point, the tracks start sounding a little too similar and you begin to feel like you've heard it all before. Still, it's a very impressive debut album. Patricia Lynn's soaring vocals and stirring viola work are both so vital to the music it's hard to decide which is actually more necessary and guitarist/pianist Justin McHugh's songwriting is the perfect vessel for her talents. Fans of Eisley should especially love the Soldier Thread.
This song was shamefully left off of Sainthood and relegated to bonus track status and it's still left as only a demo there. Though maybe that's a good thing; it's already so perfect that I can only imagine it being ruined by a proper studio recording. Sara's voice sounds fantastic (I love me some Tegan too but Sara has really been kicking ass lately) and the song manages to be both ridiculously catchy and rather weird and abstract. Sara has this knack for writing lyrics that don't actually make much sense but somehow seem like the most revelatory, insightful observations ever. I mean, can you actually tell me you know exactly what "Don't judge a book by the size of its wrists" is supposed to mean? Probably not yet it's the kind of line that sticks with you for a long time after you've heard it. And again, it doesn't hurt that it's damn catchy either.
I could really care less about Tiësto so I guess it's a good thing that this feels more like a Tegan and Sara song with a few added electronic elements here and there - and as it turns out, a pretty awesome Tegan and Sara song. It's nice to hear the girls sharing more than background vocals on the same track because it practically never happens and, who knew, their voices are actually perfectly suited to dance music. Not that I want them to become an electro/dance band any time soon but it's a refreshing little diversion anyway.
Pretty much all I have to say about this is that maybe Yeah Yeah Yeahs should experiment more with adding strings to their music because here, the results are insanely beautiful. Plus, Karen O's voice always shines most in an acoustic setting. It's hard to say if this is better than the album version or not because they're two completely different animals but it's at least just as gorgeous.
Style-wise, Shapes is one of the most cohesive albums I've ever heard outside of an actual concept album and this quality turns out to be both a blessing and a curse: on one hand, it's nice to see a band put so much thought into presenting their album as a complete package instead of a random collection of songs; on the other hand, at a point, the tracks start sounding a little too similar and you begin to feel like you've heard it all before. Still, it's a very impressive debut album. Patricia Lynn's soaring vocals and stirring viola work are both so vital to the music it's hard to decide which is actually more necessary and guitarist/pianist Justin McHugh's songwriting is the perfect vessel for her talents. Fans of Eisley should especially love the Soldier Thread.
This song was shamefully left off of Sainthood and relegated to bonus track status and it's still left as only a demo there. Though maybe that's a good thing; it's already so perfect that I can only imagine it being ruined by a proper studio recording. Sara's voice sounds fantastic (I love me some Tegan too but Sara has really been kicking ass lately) and the song manages to be both ridiculously catchy and rather weird and abstract. Sara has this knack for writing lyrics that don't actually make much sense but somehow seem like the most revelatory, insightful observations ever. I mean, can you actually tell me you know exactly what "Don't judge a book by the size of its wrists" is supposed to mean? Probably not yet it's the kind of line that sticks with you for a long time after you've heard it. And again, it doesn't hurt that it's damn catchy either.
I could really care less about Tiësto so I guess it's a good thing that this feels more like a Tegan and Sara song with a few added electronic elements here and there - and as it turns out, a pretty awesome Tegan and Sara song. It's nice to hear the girls sharing more than background vocals on the same track because it practically never happens and, who knew, their voices are actually perfectly suited to dance music. Not that I want them to become an electro/dance band any time soon but it's a refreshing little diversion anyway.
Pretty much all I have to say about this is that maybe Yeah Yeah Yeahs should experiment more with adding strings to their music because here, the results are insanely beautiful. Plus, Karen O's voice always shines most in an acoustic setting. It's hard to say if this is better than the album version or not because they're two completely different animals but it's at least just as gorgeous.
