Marah - Angels of Destruction
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Music CD Cover Artist: Marah Edition: Music CD CD Release Date: 2008-01-08 Music Label: Yep Roc Records Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Angels of Destruction Album
Free Music Review: can't take it with you...
Hit: 4 Stars
4.5 Stars
Marah's last album, If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry, was the one that pulled me in. It sounded like a raw nerve all bundled up in a comforting (yet trashy) rootsy earnestness. The poetic descriptions of people and places felt familiar yet surreal, and at their best the stories unfolded like mini-novels with attention to detail and character development (take the cascading "The Dishwasher's Dream" as the perfect example). Yet above all else the sounds were appealing and accessible, the songs tight and melodic. Next to the emo-lite and pallid second-hand-post-punk-bin rip-offs that graced the airwaves when IYDLYC was released in 2005, the thing sounded like it had descended from rock n roll heaven straight into my hands. I could hardly get it out of my CD player for weeks after I bought it, and it remains one of the most listened-to albums in my collection to this day. Of course I went out and bought a few of their other albums right afterwards, and while each pulled its own weight none quite compared to IYDLYC.
The problem of course with setting the bar so high is this: from then on, everything you do will be held to a higher standard. I've found that true in many areas of life and all the more so here.
Angels is one of the few new releases I have ever bought with no real attention to the press the album was getting. Usually I'm a wary consumer, I want to know what others think before I invest. Call me flawed, fallible (who isn't?) but there's only so much to go around. I mean money, time, love, etc. If you don't see it now eventually you will.
I don't regret the decision. And if this were anybody else's album, if it didn't have such an incredibly tough act to follow, this would get 5 stars easily. But it's Marah, and IYDLYC got deep under my skin. So of course I wanted at the very least IYDLYC Part II or (could it be?) Marah kicking it up even one notch further. This album didn't feel that way. This is the band settling back into maturity (a loaded term I know) and discovering its status as a career band. And that's not a bad thing! What they've created is an album that I'd describe as something of a "grower" rather than as the sonic equivalent of ripping a band-aid off your arm (that is actually the best way to describe IYDLYC - if that sounds appealing - and it should! - go grab that one already!).
Angels is denser, more layered than its predecessor. It boasts a fuller sound (I heard horns and an accordian zoom by as I listened through) and sharper production values. It maintains most of the roughness of its predecessor but just rounds some of the edges off. It also adds in some interesting sonic detours like what sounds to be Russian folk (??) in places. That part works. I suppose the area that could use a bit of work here is the songwriting - the lyrics have become more impressionistic and in some cases a bit oblique, and the songs more monolithic in sound. There are no heart-rendingly wistful ballads the likes of "Walt Whitman Bridge" here, nothing quite so stark and moving. The stories the band spins are not as clear-cut and memorable as they have been in the past. The vocals are also drowned out a bit by the volume of instruments brought into play here. Again not a bad thing per se, but it did detract slightly from the whole experience.
I almost feel a bit ashamed at the above paragraph though because in many ways Angels is still an embarassment of riches. "Angles On A Passing Train," "Angels Of Destruction" (note a theme here?) and "Santos De Madera" all fit nicely with the band's prior work, and "Wilderness" points in new directions with a bit of a jammy-almost-proggy feel. "Can't Take It With You" reminds me a bit of the wistfulness they have been capable of conjuring in their previous work, as does "Songbirdz" to a significant degree. I found myself singing along to "Blue But Cool" almost right away, mumbling lyrics I did not yet know. That's a good sign if there ever was one.
There's nothing wrong with a grower, and in fact sometimes it's the albums that take a bit longer for me to bond with that stay with me more permanently. In other words it's a relationship that takes work but proves worthwhile. That is what I fully suspect will happen here. I suppose I just miss some of the immediacy which I was so used to with this band.
One final note - unfortunately in these times, you don't get rich making music like this. Marah is committed to creating timeless American music and deserves your support. Whichever album of theirs you start with (except Float Away with the Friday Night Gods - a sharp detour from all that was/is good about this band, one that was fortunately never repeated!) I hope you'll give them a listen and believe.