Purevolume really disappointed me today with Brilliant Red Lights. Please understand that members Evan, Noah and Aaron did not fail me completely. In fact, I rather enjoyed their instrumental talent. However, the vocals killed it for me though. I was so excited for each song whenever the intros would begin, but that feeling quickly faded with each ear-shattering verse. I just really get so down in the dumps for a band whenever they are so close to success, but fail to get that metaphorical cigar. One lacking element can throw off an entire sound, and Brilliant Red Lights is unfortunately a perfect example of that.
"Numb Songs" starts off with some killer guitar-picking and percussion that plays like a well-oiled machine. Then screeching, pitchy vocals pour mediocrity all over the song. The guitar and bass continue to sound great together, but all of that magic is blanketed by the weakly supported vocals. They sound so forced and unrehearsed. I could love this song if that single aspect was re-recorded.
"A Declaration of Purpose" sounds mismatched and awkward. The notes the vocals hit do not seem to blend with the guitar and bass parts. If putting a left shoe on a right foot had a sound assigned to it, this song would be that sound. Again, the vocals sound strangled while a very catchy rhythm is developed by the guitar parts. What an tragic case.
"New Flags" has a very catchy groove to it with very tight percussion and intriguing guitar patterns that make my ear want to hear more. The vocals kind of fade into the background, making this song more bearable than the others. That quality of being easy to ignore still does not make them enjoyable though. I wish that once piece of the puzzle could be replaced to make the song a masterpiece.
I commend Brilliant Red Lights for creating decent rhythms and instrumental parts, but I think they should definitely rethink the vocals. I do not want to sing along to a song with a second-rate vocalist. I am second-rate enough myself.
Thank you for reading. Shuffle on.
Nicole!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, L-O-L. As the bassist of BRL for 8 some-odd years, this is completely great. A couple of contextual items to our 'defense'.
Firstly, singing is haaaaard. Have you tried that shit? Like one out of every 1000 people can even pull it off. We figured out that weakness early on, and instead, focused as much effort as possible in destroying our instruments and each other onstage so no one would notice. It was awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOYR6F5BE8
Secondly, we made this album when we were 21, which by definition means we didn't know ANYTHING. We did however have the opportunity to drive all our equipment to LA and live with our fave producer Alex Newport in the studio he built in what used to be the Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery. Bonus, he would just sit around with a charming British accent and tell us stories about our favorite bands for 2 weeks. It was the closest thing to hanging out with the Mars Volta directly we could pull off at the time. And it was awesome!
Thirdly, to judge our music in the proper context, at least listen to the EP we made after we picked up arguably the world's finest drummer (both in looks and chops): http://www.mediafire.com/?arefazbxjm4 or the pop album we made once we discovered this wonderful thing called Autotune that expertly masks all those vocal things: http://www.mediafire.com/?m3w1dyygxng. It was awesome!
Appreciate the listen nonetheless. BRL was never about the singing as much as it was about the riffs. Sick guitar riffs. Riffing with each other. Sick riffs, bro.
Cheers,
Evan
Bassist / Motivational Speaker
Brilliant Red Lights
I appreciate your feedback! I hope you understand my review of your band is solely based off of whatever I find on your Purevolume page because that site is basically the root of this project for me. I look forward to listening to the EP! Thank you so much for commenting! :)
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