Splendid does not make a habit of titling record reviews, but I've been saving this one up for a while. The title of this review is "Emo Williams: The Adventure Begins". Ouch. Sorry. (Yes. You'll pay for that. -- Ed.)
This band is composed of a group of intense young men who are very much in
touch with their feelings; specifically, they feel deeply about the emotional
subjects touched upon on An Unfocused Lens.... They discuss
relationships (both platonic and romantic), employ interesting melodic and vocal
textures, and leave the listener feeling both a bit of the pain that the
breakdown in human communications can produce and a satisfying sort of
catharsis. In other words, it's yet another well-made emo album.
I know, I know. Why in God's name would you want to buy another emo album, right? It's not like these guys avoid the pitfalls that are so endemic to the genre. It's all here -- the pointless, screaming background vocals, the loud/soft dynamic, the overwrought undergrad poetry ("I can't redefine the entries in our lexicon. My reason for waking is in building these grand equations"; Do you ever wonder if the world might be a better place if rock lyricists had tougher editors? Mine would certainly never let me get away with prose that purple). Why am I suggesting you buy this thing, then?
It's easy to forget that albums can be deeply satisfying while staying firmly within genre boundaries. For example, we all know the next Fugazi record is going to sound like a Fugazi record. This does not demean their work, but rather reflects the satisfaction many of us derive from seeing them play against their self-defined parameters. The infinite potential for variability within established rules is the reason that the sonnet form has been a vital poetic device for hundreds of years. When an artist starts with clear guidelines, the work is often given a drive and purpose it might otherwise lack. This band clearly understands the expectations that music fans have of a band that offers a sound like theirs. They have decided to exceed those expectations.
Much of the album's strength derives from the band's realization that the deck is stacked against them. Many music fans have reached their emo limits, and are disinclined to buy another sub-par heart-on-sleeve record. Instead, Marion Delgado delivers a highly melodic, deeply (dare I say it) emotional, thoroughly engaging album that reminds the listener why he or she might have listened to this kind of music in the first place.
From the opener, "One Foot In The Fire" to "Your RBI's Are Astounding", there is one winner after another. No musician is grandstanding here, and the lyrics, though awkward at times, deliver with a passion that cannot be faked. Just because "emo" has been done to death does not mean that emotion has no place in music, especially in such an intense form of music as rock and roll. Some of these tracks are so good that I felt inclined to get involved with someone just so that I could break up with her, the better to identify more strongly with the band through my misery.
If you absolutely, categorically hate every note by every "emo" band you've ever heard, don't give this record another thought. Otherwise, let the adventure begin. And I promise I'll never use another pun title.
