SOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-You in Reverse (2006).
I love the audacity of coming back from a five-year hiatus and opening your disc with an 8 minute song that has lots and lots of instrumentals and solo sections. And man is “Goin’ Against Your Mind” a good song (the band opened with this when I saw them and it awesome). At around 5 minutes the songs slows down for a quieter section and then it builds back up again. I particularly love the roaring guitars in the back of the song (which I think are from Brett Netson—it is confusing that the band has a Brett Nelson and a Brett Netson in its line up).
“Traces” slows things down. It has a simple but really catchy riff. “Liar” is a bouncy, rather fun song with some pretty guitar work (two guitars in the middle) and a super catchy vocal melody. “Saturday” is a slowish ballad that is only 2:24.
“Wherever You Go” has a kid of Neil Young stomp to it, but it’s “Conventional Wisdom” that really opens up the beginning of the second half with a great riff and a fun chorus. The dual guitar solo that starts around 3 minutes in is fantastic.
I also love the guitar riffs in “Gone” and how at 3 minutes it turns into something else entirely with a big organ sound. “Mess with Time,” which they played live, has a great staccato riff and a really interesting (to my ear Middle Easternish) guitar riff. I also like the way it sounds like perhaps a circular saw blade is being used as percussion. And how at 3:15 it turns into an entirely new song—an almost ska song riff with great bass lines. “Just a Habit” is a mellow song with soaring electric guitar lines. The disc ends with “The Wait,” a slower song that I don’t usually love. But they played it live and in the live setting it took on a new vitality was really enjoyable.
This is an album I can put on an enjoy from start to finish.
[READ: August 7, 2015] Chancers
Chancers is a short three-act play set in Dublin after the collapse of the Irish economy.
There are four characters: Aiden and Dee who own a small shoppe; Gertie, an older lady who comes in regularly and never has a nice word for anyone and JP, Aiden’s mate.
In the first scene, we see that Dee is getting dressed up for a job interview. She doesn’t imagine she’ll get the job, but they desperately need the money. Aiden reveals that they have stopped offering certain services because they weren’t profitable enough. When Gertie comes in, she mocks the two of them for trying, and for overreaching. Gertie is nasty, undermining everything that Dee or Aiden says.
In the second scene, JP and Aiden are talking about a lottery ticket. It seems that Gertie has bought a ticket that has won a huge windfall. But when she brought the ticket in for him to check, Aiden instinctively told her it was a loser. JP says that the first step has been taken now all they need to do is get that ticket for themselves so they can cash it in. (more…)
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