Fluxblog Weekly #192: Broadcast, The Scary Jokes, Sleigh Bells
December 31st, 2018
Wait, You May Win
Broadcast “Before We Begin”
Trish Keenan was a deeply shy woman who sang everything with an ambiguous tone, as if the Mona Lisa was fronting a psychedelic pop band. Conflicting emotions and ideas overlapped in her songs, but in a very tidy way. She was precise in her phrasing, and expressed as much as she could in small, low-key utterances. She made her shyness a strength in her music, particularly in the way her reserved quality suggested an emotional depth that canceled out the potential irony or kitsch in Broadcast’s taste for mid-20th century nostalgia.
“Before We Begin” is an expression of cautious optimism that makes the most of the ambiguity in Keenan’s voice. She sings her melodies with sweetness and a touch of melancholy – earnestly hoping for the best, but prepared for disaster. In a way, this is a song about how arbitrary beginnings and endings, like the change of one year to another, give us a way of shaping our personal narratives and opening us up to opportunities to have a fresh start. The loveliest part of the melody expresses the most hopeful thought in the song – “it’s in tomorrow, fortune or sorrow / wait, you may win.” It’s a very reassuring sentiment. A guarantee of success and joy would ring hollow, but put in this way, it feels like a more real possibility.
Buy it from Amazon.
January 1st, 2019
The Wrath Of A Dying Star
The Scary Jokes “Community Gardens”
Liz Lehman’s previous record as The Scary Jokes was delightfully melodic and agonizingly neurotic, something like a feminine equivalent to Kevin Barnes’ music as Of Montreal. Three years later, Lehman remains a natural with melody and is no less angsty, but has further developed their style beyond obvious reference points. BURN PYGMALION!!! is a cleaner, less frenzied record that tells a complicated love story about an entertainment journalist and her movie star girlfriend that sometimes seems like it’s actually about reconciling one’s own introverted and extroverted impulses.
“Community Gardens” opens the record by laying out the record’s emotional themes, but not so much its plot. Lehman’s vocal tone is incredibly warm, but the phrasing is crisp and precise – it’s like someone who is trying to ingratiate the listener, but also stick to an agenda. The lyrics are fantastic, opening with self-deprecation and fear, but quickly moving on to imparting two crucial pieces of wisdom. First, that “despair is less abundant in those who understand how to plant their hearts in community gardens.” Yes, this is a good way of putting it! The second point is bigger – the world may be fucked over by the decisions of powerful and capricious men, but there’s at least a lesson to learn from their arrogance and hubris. Lehman is not much of an optimist, but it’s hard not to hear the genuine hope in this song.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
January 2nd, 2019
Shark Teeth The Size Of Pick-Up Trucks
Sleigh Bells “It’s Just Us Now”
The running theme of Sleigh Bells’ records is the effort and emotional strain it takes to overcome insecurity and push yourself to be the kind of person you want to be and to become something truly great. Derek Miller makes it all sound like a matter of life and death – there’s no half-measures in Sleigh Bells songs, and the music is always pushed to the furthest extremes of catchiness, of emphatic self-belief, of raw force, of blaring loudness. They’re aiming for an overpowering physical sensation; they want to give you a thrill. But it’s all a dramatization of an inner struggle to be optimistic and have faith that you can make things work.
The phrase “It’s Just Us Now” doesn’t come up in the song, but it’s the subtext. It’s a message to the people who stuck with them after the hype for them died down: You get it, so here’s the most ambitious music we can come up with, because we’re not going to stop fighting even if everyone bails on us. No one would ever consider the music on their previous records to be timid or repressed, but they do feel that way in the context of where they’ve been since Jessica Rabbit came out in 2016. It’s loud, but not in the red and warped to the point that it sounds like an accident. They stopped relying on decibels to give you that oomph feeling. And crucially, Alexis Krauss had revealed herself as a powerhouse singer – the airy head voice of the first few records was now supplanted by a fierce, belting rock voice that was more En Vogue than indie pop. They leveled up, in large part because these are people who thrive as underdogs.
“It’s Just Us Now” tips back and forth between confidence and doubt, but it’s not the pessimistic feelings that stick. The lines that jump out at you are statements of certainty: “I believe deeply in decency.” “When you die, I wanna die with you.” The music sounds defiant and heroic, so when Krauss sings “when I’m conscious, I am cursed,” it just comes across like pointing at an obstacle to kick down and overcome. They’re ready to push and fight, and are not afraid to fail. This is the energy we should be carrying into the New Year.
Buy it from Amazon.