Three Imaginary Girls - YWPTS Review by JimiC
I don't generally like instrumental music. If you don't have time to write lyrics, I don't have time to listen to your record. It always feels a bit lazy to me, skipping the words.
Don’t get me wrong, I respect a lot of it, I recognize the instrumental prowess of many proponents and intricacy of the best instrumental works, and I understand the aim, more often than not. I just tend not to like it. This may stem from my subconscious belief that instrumental bands are that way for one of two reasons (sometimes related):
- They have discovered that all singers are ego-centric douchebags who manage to remove all sense of joy from the artistic process with their persistent preening and polyamorous distractions. And/or...
- No one in the band is capable of singing (which is would be a strange excuse given the existence of “autotune” and “singers” like the Fall’s Mark E Smith or Art Brut’s Eddie Argos).
By now you may have used your keen sense of detection to pick up on my casual disdain for “singers” as a breed. But just like politics and Diet Pepsi, they are a necessary evil. Some of them are even pretty okay (but don’t let them know I said so). Often, I don’t care what they’re saying (which is good, given the lyrical content of the average pop/rock song), just so long as they’re saying something -- preferably something catchy and/or memorable. Language is a powerful thing and the human voice is an affecting instrument… combined they tend to add significant emotional heft and value to popular music.
All that being said, there are instrumental songs I like, love, even. Hmmm… sounds like time for a list.
15 instrumentals I really, really like (or love, even), in no particular order:
- “Oscillate Wildly” by The Smiths
- “Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny
- “Rumble” by Link Wray
- “Your Dragging Feet” by Polyrock
- “Terrorist” by The Teardrop Explodes
- “Pipeline” by The Ventures
- “Miserlou” by Dick Dale (yeah, I kinda like surf rock)
- “Rebel Rouser” by Duane Eddy
- “Saudade” by Love and Rockets
- “Spirea X” by Primal Scream
- “Green Onions” by Booker T & the MG's
- “Girls” by Death in Vegas
- “Remote Luxury” by The Church
- “Guitar Voodoo” by The Darkside
- “Elegia” by New Order (I like this one so much I’ll even listen to the over indulgent, unedited, warts-and-all 20-minute-plus version on the Retro box set.)
A varied list, but one thing the above share is focus. They are tight; they don’t dilly dally around with meandering build ups and false stops or gently build to a massive climax. They sell their hook or create their mood quickly and effectively. In fact, I hesitated to include things like Booker T and Link Wray, as they existed in a time where songs in excess of 3 or 3 ½ minutes were almost unthinkable in the rock/pop genre, which would have tended to force an artist to say what they had to say in a much more concise (and IMO, enjoyable ) manner. This brings me to the point where a good deal of instrumental music wanders off the path for me, and, unfortunately, most instrumental bands head down the fork in the road opposite mine (mine being the one which I like to call “the right way”). It seems to me most instrumental bands like to replace their singer with more music, not concurrently, but consecutively, that is to say they stretch things out and then tend to go on and on, building on and changing dynamics, which is a pretty effective (and easy) trick to pull off, but one that’s difficult to pull off well. Godspeed! do it very well (and I actually dig them quite a bit), but many of the associated side projects seem to miss the mark a bit. Locally we’ve got Kinski, who’ve mastered the form to great effect (though they throw the occasional lyric in, and rumor has it they’ll doing a bit more of that on their forthcoming new album), but more often than not I find this type of instrumental post-rock band bo-ring.
You may have guessed by now that Joy Wants Eternity is an instrumental project. Well, you guessed right. What you might not have guessed is that their new album, You Who Pretend to Sleep, is one that while taking the “wrong” way, manages to do a whole lotta stuff way right.
Right out of the gate, “Existences Rust” is filled with aggressive energy. There's no slow build here: no verses, no choruses, just a surge of noise. “Above the Clouds Lies Eternal Sun” takes a more typical soft to loud path, but keeps it under four minutes, passing by before it’s worn out it’s welcome, delicate guitar/Rhodes passages punctuated by percussive bursts that give the song added power without disturbing the entrancing spell created by the quieter parts.
“From Embrace to Embrace” stretches out a bit, mixing early passages of layered melody that build to a chaotically restrained noisy guitar lead, which recedes back as the song reaches its dénouement. Tremulous feedback and reverbed clicks on the pick-ups create an otherworldly bed for a mournful Fender Rhodes (does anything do “mournful” as well as a Rhodes?) progression as “Death is a Door that Opens,” um, opens. A siren-like guitar wails softly in the background as the song expands without ever building to a climax. It goes against everything I look for in a rock song (as discussed in some detail above), but is probably the most effective piece on the album, as it manages to set a unique but familiar mood that is genuinely affecting. The following track, “What Lies Beyond,” as the name implies, seems to be an effort to extend or supplement it’s antecedent, but lacks the depth. It’s a short one, though, so before I can get bored the album moves on.
This is probably a good place to point out the pacing of the album, which is really excellent. The best parts ebb and flow in and out, while the less interesting and dynamic bits move out the way quickly, often serving as an effective “palate cleanser” between the main courses. (Can you tell it’s lunchtime as I type this?)
“Yet Onward We March” seems by title to be the third in a trilogy with the previous two songs, but shares little musically. It’s generally a by-the-numbers soft to loud build set apart by the tremendously good guitar sound in the noisy build that the band have captured in the recording. The staccato fits and start of the percussion also help make it a little more atypical and less predictable. “Uriel” utilizes a simple but engaging guitar figure to capture my attention before quietly wandering off into a fragile decrescendo, even the drums blending quietly into the mix giving the passage more life than the “soft bits” usually have on offer. Closer “You are the Vertical, You are the Horizontal,” after a familiar-feeling opening passage, feels like a lullaby… right until the explosive end, which is more than just a “loud bit,” with two prominent guitar melodies overlapping and giving the climax an unexpected depth, all of this in just a shade over four minutes, therby avoiding that very common pitfall (as far as I’m concerned) of instrumental rock music, unnecessary length. And while I’m on that topic, four of the eight songs on the LP clock in under four minutes with the longest being a bit over six minutes, certainly lending to the aforementioned excellent pacing, a trait I find very rare in this type of album and one that I must say adds so much to the listening experience.
The last two songs, “Uriel” and “You are the Vertical, You are the Horizontal,” have similar vaguely uplifting chord changes that have a way of making the record feel triumphant as it comes to it’s end. It seems an apt ending to a well-crafted and well-played instrumental rock album. In their bio, the band mentions Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, and Mogwai as “recommended if you like” touchstones, and I would certainly second that claim, but I would also advise record buyers not to be scared off by those comparisons if they don’t typically “like” those bands. Joy Wants Eternity has done something similar in quality to them (even occasionaly exceeding their high self-set standard), but unique in its focus and clarity, and more immediate and accessible (at least to vocal-needing cretins like myself) for it.
The Stranger - Astral Light by Jennifer Maerz
SPACE ROCK CAN be an elusive genre to define, what with so many bands exploring the reverb function and setting sail on introspective, interplanetary rides. Occasionally you'll hear something that's unquestionably linked to that aforementioned sound?like, say, actual audio from outer space, of which www.world-science.net posted clips recently (it has 13- to 73-second samples of eerie radio waves from Saturn. Now that's some awesome reverb. Sample that planet into your next mix). A little closer to Earth, local space-cases Joy Wants Eternity perform stargazing astro pop/post rock that could soundtrack the view from the shuttle Discovery, so long as the astronauts were on a gentle ride. (Joy Wants Eternity offer images of "star clusters near the center of the galaxy" on their website, just to further the point.) Their ambient sound unfurls comfortably, layering keyboard melodies over amber guitar riffs and astral drones, similar to Kinski's lighter moments or Slowdive's wordless sprawls.
The band released their debut EP, Must You Smash Your Ears Before You Learn to Listen with Your Eyes, at the end of last year and they're currently working on its follow up. (They seem to record in odd places?colleges instead of studios.). And KEXP recently put Joy Wants Eternity's songs into rotation (they should fit seamlessly into DJ Riz's late-night electronic show, Expansions). The disc disconnects from the confines of the terrestrial world almost completely, except when a man's voice penetrates the ether on "H. L. Mencken"?named after the renowned journalist and iconoclast?for a discussion on romance among martinis, but even his words are eventually drowned out by distant beeps moving closer and icy sonic winds. The band are more concerned with mood transport than verbal expressions, keeping the hues pastel and the overall aesthetic weightless. NASA may be physically launching humans into the unknown, but bands like Joy Wants Eternity keep them orbiting up there?if only for the length of six celestial songs.
Decoy Music - Ian Nicholls
You know when you hear a band?s name and you can pretty much guess how they will sound? Or you know that they will be your kind of thing? That?s what I got with Joy Wants Eternity. I was looking at all the opening bands in the Post-Rock Madness tournament and there they were, so I dug about, found their CD - and I haven?t stopped playing it roughly every other hour or so since then.
The EP (a generous 30+ minutes of music) is astounding, the title seems to invite you to interpret the music visually but I believe it is to do with the band?s party-trick of playing live sets to films they project. Nonetheless I did try to imagine what could be happening and, to me, the music conjured up the scene from Bambi where his mother dies. Except instead of being shot she?s hit by a jumbo-jet, oh and it was all in space. Admittedly, that vision probably has more to do with my own warped mind than the music but not to fear, the following list of indistinct adjectives and hyperbole may help you understand.
The music is layers of drones and feedback loops acting as a backdrop to the deeply melancholy flickering, shimmering guitars. The drumming is involved and the hushed marching style they employ every so often is stunning. Of course by now you may have spotted my one problem with the band ? they are a Those Who Tell The Truth? era Explosions in the Sky. Consequently I?m faced with a pretty hard decision as I sit here and try to rate this album; it would so much easier if the band sucked at what they do, only they don?t. The question I?m posing myself is whether to give this beautiful album that I haven?t stopped listening to for weeks a 5/5 or drop a mark and give them 4/5 because it is so clearly a very slightly altered EitS album. Even as I write that I think it might be a bit harsh on Joy Wants Eternity because quite frankly I prefer this CD, as a whole, to any of the albums that Austin?s golden boys have put out.
The final decision is yours as a listener; either you can appreciate this album as an enchanting and remarkable addition to your collection or you can get hung up on calling the band rip-offs and dismiss it. Personally, I?m going to ignore the similarities and won?t stop playing this CD. Ever. I may even try and hold my breath until the full album is released in a few months?
Tiny Mix Tapes - Justin Spicer
For what it's worth, instrumental music is a fantastic medium truly hidden from the view of the masses. Often, the sounds ebb and flow, the build-ups are just as fulfilling as waiting for a first kiss, and the music rarely grows stale or predictable. It's a soundtrack to daily life -- if life was an over-the-top dramatic interpretation. Seattle's Joy Wants Eternity playfully engages the listening audience in many of the above qualities: the ideas are fresh, each song lives its own life, and the build-up is fantastic. Sadly, the story is built up so much, that the climax is lost in the shuffle.
The opener, "For We Had No Road," is a meditative storm of gentle keystrokes and guitar buzz. The feeling of flying through a starry sky or the sweet tension of a first date isn't usually a description that applies to an airy song, but the show fits snuggly in this case. "For We Had No Road" feels like a fairy tale with no words mucking up the message. "Of Dead Loves and Waning Perfume" holds true to the storytelling philosophy evident throughout the EP. The highs and lows of each note and each hook exist in its own Never Never Land. Peter Pan dreams of having JWE playing him into the bedroom window of Wendy.
Much of listening to this album is absorbing the slowly unfolding menagerie, but "H.L Mencken" disrupts the tall tale before it truly begins to blossom. The track is nothing more than a stab at experimentation through distortion. Usually such a track would be an unexpected and welcomed change of pace, but the sonic annoyance only muddles up what was shaping up to be a wonderfully told sound-story. The album fails to recover until midway through "What Fell Down From the Moon Last Night." The song has the unenviable task of trying to piece the puzzle back together, and although it comes close through some fantastic change-ups and a cheerier tune, it fails to distinguish itself from the rest of the numbers, leaving behind the perfect opportunity to blow you away with a theatrical finish full of fireworks and explosions.
The positives definitely outweigh the negatives on Joy Wants Eternity's debut performance. The band is able to tell a good story using only music and a vision. The album, for the most part, is as cohesive as anything you'll pick up in the bins of your local record establishment. There's a passion exuding from each and every one of these songs, making it impossible not to be infected with JWE's spirit and vigor. It'll take a couple more releases to gauge exactly where this collective is headed, but it should be an enjoyable and worthy wait.