Review Summary: Big, bold subtleties
The Day We Got What We Deserved’s title and cover art may have you expecting a big, bold record. Moreover, the big, bold dudes in Trade Wind may have you expecting some crushingly heavy music, particularly when you’re confronted with the fact that the band consists of members of the big, bold bands Stray From the Path, Stick to Your Guns, and Textures. However, in reality,
The Day We Got… is a careful, restrained exercise in sparkling subtleties, cementing Jesse Barnett’s fifty-second favourite sonic vehicle as one of the most intriguing alternative rock acts of this moment.
Two years ago, Trade Wind quietly released one of 2019’s best records in
Certain Freedoms. An expansive affair, incorporating influences ranging from post hardcore to jazz, the album posed many opportunities for the band. As such, the introverted
The Day We Got… feels like a natural progression; simultaneously more subdued and less narrow than previous outings, with Trade Wind embracing the shorter runtime to look inward and explore whatever dim nuances may reside there. The record’s opening cuts present a heavy focus on acoustic guitars, with lead single ‘DIE! DIE! DIE!’ being one of the strongest examples of the band’s unique craft. A soft shimmer underscores twinkling guitars, with simple, captivating drum rhythms lending the track its remarkably dynamic properties. Similarly, ‘Nine Tails’ finds Barnett repeating the lyric “
I don’t want to be nobody” in slightly altered patterns for about half of the song, rendering it an intriguing enrichment rather than a tiring nuisance.
The record’s greatest improvement can be found in this vocal department. Whereas Barnett would occasionally yell out choruses on past works,
The Day We Got… opts for muted refinement all the way through. Rather than relying on such aggression, ‘Fade on You’ provides a brilliant example as it incorporates ominous electronic quips to similarly intense effects, while remaining entirely subdued. Barnett croons his way through the song, enhancing the album’s atmosphere through vague threads and threats of despair, loss, and death. ‘Untitled III’ presents the most discomforting clarity, with its final lyrics painting a picture that is equal parts gloomy and oddly optimistic, naturally complemented by wonderfully pristine guitar tones: “
My only qualm / With this plane going down / Is never seeing you again”.
The Day We Got… closes on two of the band’s strongest songs. ‘Weather Eyes’ feels like a culmination of Trade Wind’s accomplishments, adding a charming saxophone to its familiar framework of smooth vocal melodies and dreamy instruments. Clasping onto the last bit of light while absorbed in the record’s ambiguous darkness, ‘Walk Me in // Plant Me in Your Garden’ transforms the band’s final contemplations into haunting patterns, demarcating a fittingly muted apocalyptic end to the album. It’s no grand goodbye, it’s no elaborate future prospect: it’s the exact sophisticated beauty Trade Wind do best, filtered through a dark haze.
Simply put,
The Day We Got… presents a batch of wonderful contrasts between light and dark, calmly propelled by highly intricate sonic meanderings. It’s a relatively brief, highly consumable affair, showcasing Trade Wind at their very best. If this is what we deserve, we can deem ourselves rather lucky.
