GutterPutter

2013 sees a rather big upheaval in Connecticut’s music scene when a band, titled rather dramatically as The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die, released a certain album. Named Whenever, If Ever, the record receives a lot of praise from the underground publications for mixing the band’s post-hardcore kind of Emo with the calculation & atmospheric display of post-rock. With the style helping the band to stick out from their contemporaries, they manage to acquire a loyal following over the years & with three (now four!) albums on their belt from over a decade, they are not one to simply dismiss. This year, their latest output is more-or-less a similar kind of music that you would be comfortable with, albeit with a complex drive which might have well remind you of the prog-rock epics that dominate the 70s. It’s not by all means an instant classic in the Emo revival scene, but there are lengthy highlights that sticks out well in the end that is unlike anything else you may well have heard of. To try & keep the review blog post concise, the band will simply be referred to as The World is a Beautiful Place…; a shortened version that many publications tend to go back to.

A lot of the band’s features is still apparent in Illusory Walls from its existential lyricism, stream-of-consciousness song structure to the multiple vocalists & shrilling guitar sounds.  If there’s one difference that makes the whole world, it’s that the existential angst has an artsy elevation to make the album greater than the sum of its parts. The diptych-like social commentary of the two ‘Blank//’ tracks in ‘Drone’ & ‘Wonder’ addresses the disillusion with the growing socio-economical division between the affluent & the destitute with a short runtime. Its impact is something to admire as it encapsulates the dreary life of being a young adult without coming off as being whiny on top of its reverberating guitar lines. ‘Trouble’, the lead single of the album, charges in with the bewilderment of the urban lifestyle. The layering of the vocal performances & the soaring guitars makes for a claustrophobic, yet finely executed thesis on the growing corporate side of life. You will see a lot of the same praises in this album, yet with that comes the abundant problems that can overshadow as much as it can innovate.

The intro track ‘Afraid to Die’ strikes the iron hot with its twinkly arpeggio of a guitar riff. In coordination with the keyboard, it shows a little bit of magic before the second half goes bolting in with a high-energy delivery on all fronts which doesn’t work as awfully well as the first minute & a half. Tracks like ‘Queen Sophie for President’, ‘We Saw Birds through the Hole in the Ceiling’, & ‘Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance’ show a kind of familiarity to the standard pop form. The hazy production style & state of melancholia makes for a more solemn work as per expected, yet the certain rhythm on some of the more accessible tracks from earlier have offset its depressive effect. Not in a manner that is positive entirely as it can go in a disjointed dissonance with the otherwise catchy tunes within the tracks.

In conjunction with the post-hardcore fingerprints in ‘Invading the World of the Guilty’ & ‘Died in the Prison of the Holy Office’, Illusory Walls can end up coming off as being bloated in its extravagant grandeur. Not helping in its case is how while it mostly sticks to its landing of not coming off as being pure melodrama, the heard string instrumental & visceral metal-like playing in ‘Your Brain is a Rubberband’ can make it sound like a burlesque musical.

The final two tracks can only be described as behemoths as ‘Infinite Josh’ & ‘Fewer Afraid’ clock in at just under 16 & 20 minutes respectively. The crescendo of the intro in ‘Infinite Josh’ as we learn of the narrative around the nostalgia being shown on past youth against the “river of present needs.’ The production choice in repeating the refrain over & over again can some off as being annoying, yet the context of it allows it to rise up & stick out as being bittersweet. The last third where the crescendo cumulates to an instrumental onslaught & a guitar solo might well be music to anyone’s ear as the final verse closes in on the symbolic limbo in the broken stance of the world.

Lastly, ‘Fewer Afraid’ begins with a speech that, in focusing on personal familial relationships & division, makes the rest of the listen feel poignant. The signature crescendo that is notable in post-rock is there once more as amidst the seemingly spiteful world, the plea for the listener to “Come off and fall so that [the band] can pick you up]” adds a sense of hope. The length of time can come off as being off-putting especially with the long lyrics, yet the optimism & the lowkey beautiful send-off in the last 2 minutes can make the whole listen worth the while. With only the violins, the dying rings of the electric guitars, & the lamellophones, the celestial impression clinches the end of the record. Don’t feel too intimidated by the vastness of Illusory Walls, what it lacks in keeping itself cohesive, it more than makes up for its wondrous drive all the way throughout. The World is a Beautiful Place… doesn’t show too much of a chance to prove that they’re ‘great’, but this album shows that their ambition is worth the awe.