CRIME IN STEREO – “I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone”
I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone is…strange. At first. Around my seventh listen, I started hearing things.
Anyway. “Not Dead” and “Republica” are two of the most feral songs CRIME IN STEREO has committed to tape, with guitar parts that will probably cause people to lose teeth in a mosh pit or mid stagedive. And yet: both those songs have unreal melodic, uplifting parts that come out of nowhere. The lyric nerd in me is agonizing over “Not Dead,” because it sounds like it’s about a girl and yet… it just might be about the band itself. “Republica” is a lyrical synthesis of “Takbir,” “I, Stateside” and “Third Atlantic,” which makes me jump for joy, throwing out my back.
It’s not all good news, though. “Exit Halo” doesn’t age as well as the rest of the disc and the re-recording of “Dark Island City” is head-scratching. It feels too much like a George Lucas moment for the band. Like BRAND NEW, the band dances on the line of “too strange” moments, but it never gets too melodramatic. “Queue Moderns” is more of an intro than a full album track, but it sets up “Drugwolf” well, so its purpose is served.
“Young” is probably the most obvious curveball in the batch, a mellow acoustic song that speeds up for a cacophonic, disintegrating middle only to enter in its third form, completely abandoning the previous two parts for a sing-along part about remembering his girl in the snow.
Bands evolve, certainly, but it’s strange to see so constant and so drastic shifts between full-lengths, while maintaining a thematic consistency. Sure, war and Abrahamic faith is well worn territory, but Alex Dunne has managed to hollow out a niche that enriches the music and challenges the listener. Chest thumping “I was built for war” is a dime a dozen in hardcore, but Alex uses the language of the jihadis to articulate it. There’s songs about love and dying, but they’re turned on their head. “Drugwolf” says this love’s gonna drag us down and “Type One” has a chorus about trying to do anything with a fear of death looming overhead.
As for the question of will you like it, the answer is yes. If you like the fast, aggressive CRIME IN STEREO there’s something for you. If you like a more contemplative, prettier CRIME IN STEREO, there’s something for you. If you like the crazy reverb and delay pedals CRIME IN STEREO, there’s something for you.
In a chat-style review of CRIME IN STEREO’s 2007 record, Is Dead, Corey Schmidt, the former Associated Editor and lead reviews writer for Pastepunk, said the following, and three years later, he’s right again: Everything — the music, photos, artwork, overall presentation, song names, the album title, and the lyrics — all have distinct, nuanced purposes in my mind. I think with this album these guys have solidified themselves as one of the most meaningful bands out there.
Put simply: It’s records like this that make us psycho CRIME IN STEREO fans.
- I can’t help but feel that there is a chain of influence that goes like this: RADIOHEAD’s music and mysterious aura inspires BRAND NEW; BRAND NEW’s music and mysterious aura inspires CRIME IN STEREO. Obviously it’s not that simple, but all three bands have refused to give up their privacy and soul to the modern social networking, show-your-fans-everything mantra that is being preached so heavily by music marketing know-it-alls. Ignoring the noise has made all three bands so much stronger. – Jordan
