Razor Star |
10-09-2018 10:44 AM |
First Listen: Shiny and Oh, So Bright vol 1
I just got my promo of the album (i'm a journalist). It's...interesting. Good, absolutely. Certainly level-pegging with Oceania in terms of quality, though it sounds nothing like that record. They could be different bands (they kind of are). I'd be interested to know how the two planned EPs would be divided up, because there's two very different sounds here - basically a Solara mode and a Silvery Sometimes mode, I wonder if they'd have interlaced them or released two very different EPs.
Anyway...
1) Knights of Malta
- Sounds nothing like any SP song you've heard. The only thing that comes close is the Puff Daddy remix of Ava Adore. Catchy, weird, with a backwards guitar solo (James I think), loads of strings, a woah-a-woah-oh hook, Billy singing about riding rainbows, 70s gospel backing singers. I actually REALLY like it, but it will divide people. The most Rick Rubin song here.
2) Silvery Sometimes (ghosts) you know, It fits really well here. Knights of Malta and SS are recognizably the same record.
3) Travels
Glorious "Smashing Pumpkins" pop, somewhere between Stand Inside Your Love and That's The Way My Love Is, but more mid-tempo than either. Similar sparkly sound to Silvery. Actually has a very Zwan feel. I think all three guitarists are here, but it's possible of course that it's just Billy. The only track here that could really have been on Oceania (there's some bass -probably WPC- that is very Nicole actually). Strong.
4) Solara
You know this one, obviously, but what's surprising is how much it stands out in the first half of the record. It's substantially heavier than anything we've heard so far far, and the album definitely builds to it. Definitely changes the tone, it's a very "bright" album up to this points, this definitely brings the darkness. Also the only time Jimmy really lets loose.
5) Alienation
Harks back to Monuments' Run To Me with the synths and beat. Has some unexpected turns in the chord sequence, and some unmistakably James Iha e-bow. Likeable, if slight until it hits the drama at the end and kicks up a notch.
6) Marchin' On
The other big, heavy stomper here- it sound like Judas Priest with am AWESOME breakdown like something from Master of Puppets. Sounds like it would be the b-side to Solara, if that makes sense. Kind of Zeritgeisty. James on the old e-bow again. This one will KILL live. Can't believe it's on the same record as Knights of Malta- Billy's most tonally polarized album since MCIS.
7) With Sympathy
Another very Rick Rubin sounding production (very dry, almost brittle). Again reminds of me a bit of the feel of Mary Star of the Sea.
8) Seek and you Shall Destroy.
Palatable mid tempo rocker, but not really a stand out. Combines the dark and the light well but doesn't go enough places for me.
Obviously I could change ALL of these opinions with more listens, but this is very listenable SP - not the statement of intent of a come back that Zeitgeist was (for all of its problems), more a low-key reintroduction, and seems to run out of ideas in the second half. 7/10. For now.
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