For Connecticut’s The Butterflies of Love, the road to Famous Problems has been a long one. After a successful debut album (How To Know, 1998), an NME single of the week, John Peel literally applauding their debut single on air, a less successful follow up album (The New Patient, 2002), and their crowning glory – being called “crap” by Blink 182 – their 13 years have been problematic if not that famous. The band led by Jeff and Daniel Greene (who remarkably enough aren’t related) return for one more go at things with this, their third album.
“At such times, I’ve got feelings about everything” is the first line of album opener ‘Take Action’ and for 13 songs the Greenes proceed to convey these feelings above a swirl of guitars and vocal harmonies. They are tales from Middle America that range from relationships to juvenile delinquency and even the “smiting” of mythical birds, but more of that later.
‘Take Action’ is a great way to get this attempt at career resurrection started. Full of long, held, notes it is a simple but effective hymn to a factory girl who teaches the protagonist the meaning of, unsurprisingly, taking action. Immediately you are into the bouncy, funny ‘Act Deranged’, a much lighter proposition: “You’re going to have to act deranged to get out of this one…You’re in trouble with your Mum”. A breezy 2 minutes passes pleasantly with the help of a cheerful bass line and added handclaps for good measure. The altogether more sinister single ‘In A Blizzard In A Lighthouse’ comes hot on its heels as part of a psychedelic double with ‘No Moon No Sun No Stars’, the discordant guitar of the latter echoing the literal darkness of the song’s title. Then straight into ‘Lies Will Sound Like The Truth’ and before you know it you are almost halfway through the album. This constant barrage of songs becomes a recurring theme of the Famous Problems. It is full of songs with grand soundscapes that feel like they are of epic length, when in fact they rarely go over the 3 minute mark (in fact only 3 of the 13 songs do). This gives an immediacy to the songs that could easily have gone astray under sheer weight of sound.
It is only by the sedentary sixth track ‘Sunshine’ that you get time to catch your breath as Famous Problems takes a more reserved turn. Sometimes the effects on the grander songs are taken too far (‘Conquer Every Woe’ is going along nicely with melodic harmonies and handclaps until slightly spoiled by the unnecessary backwards guitar) and it is in the slower second half that the album hits some of its real highs. The atmospheric ‘Ghostride’ is a nostalgic look at the apparent joys of drink driving, while the Dire Straits sounding ‘Orbit Around You’ and organ filled ‘Know My Sign’ are both very good indeed. The quirky ‘Smite The White Eagle’ provides the centrepiece and standout song of the latter part of the collection. The persistent Leonard Cohen-esque drawl of its vocals and imagery of the lyrics – “She gathered her armies and planned her attack on the battleground inside her mind” – combine to make it a dark triumph.
There is barely a bad song on Famous Problems, with ‘All Of A Sudden’ being the one really weak link. The Greenes are ably supported throughout by a cast of five, most notably Jason Mills, whose guitar work (particularly on ‘No Moon No Sun No Stars’ and ‘Ghostride’) along with the benefits of a 7 piece band helps to create the depth of sound that defines Famous Problems. A bit like Doves covering Pavement, it is an album that carries you along on a sea of swirling guitars and backing vocals with little chance to pause for breath. An excellent return, it has been worth the five year wait.
****
First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.
No comments:
Post a Comment