Wow, this is beautiful. I'm pretty blown away. Nice, original chord progressions with a variation of heavy, light; bright, dark; highs, and lows. Guitars have a great range of distortion tones and '60's rings, with provocative chords arpeggios. Interesting bass lines (if you listen that intently) and synchronized drumming. Conley's sweetie vocals are as soft, lulling, and submissive as ever. For every little reticent, timid kid who falls into traps of heartache and love, this is the album to live by.
VOCALS: Conley takes a lower, relaxed pitch. His not-so-manly voice takes a progressive calm that was initially begun in "Stay What You Are." There are fewer dips and exciting yelps that made Through Being Cool such an amazing album, but the direction Conley takes with his voice now is no worse.
INSTRUMENTS: With the leaving of Ted Alexander (which I didn't know about til I didn't see his name on the credits), the guitar work begins to focus on just one. The absolutely breathtaking intertwine of guitars in "Holly Hox Forget Me Not" (track 5 on Through Being Cool) is nevermore. Although two guitar voices will be manifest in the album, the lines are basically uniform or echoing, in a not-as-rhythmic yet still seductive passage replete with caressing arpeggios. Okay, by now you must think I'm a total loser. But just hear me out.
Considering the band has gone through about a million drummers, settling with Pete was an excellent decision. He possesses the creative innovation that Brian conveyed, minus the speed. And Eben's bass, well, it seems to stick out so well with the absence of a second guitar, and the lines are a brilliant harmony that parallels the guitar and drum parts.
FURTHER INFO: Conley is the only original member of the band, so naturally the band has changed much; New Jersey pop-punk to post-emo indie at half the tempo. I guess I would really enjoy a mix of the two styles that that went so well in Through Being Cool, but In Reverie really shows the beauty and genius that Saves the Day can create in a mellower atmosphere.
This is also the band's first release on DreamWorks and perhaps the second by Vagrant. The CD art is kind of freaky, but don't let that stop you from buying it!
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C.L. '03 |
