Review Summary: TREOS goes above and beyond (literally from our humble planet) in a musical journey that further cements their place as one of the best bands in post hardcore today.
After waiting 2 years for the next release from this new favorite band of mine and praying that the dismissal of Casey Crecenzo did not have a dire effect on the band, "The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi" was finally released this past August and after all the fanboy love died off, i have come to terms with the fact the album still has blown me away.
This is the first album i've listened to all year where a band takes a totally different, though risky direction, despite the fact that their old sound is already highly acclaimed (most notably from Minus the Bear, Every Time I Die, Circa Survive, Modest Mouse and to an extent, Darkest Hour). I did not expect such a well thought out concept and consistent atmosphere after hearing "The Crop..." and "Saturnus." Its funny that i didn't think the band would do something like this when the whole theme of the record deals with space and its vast emptiness, yet epic rhythmic order. This is prevalent on every song on the album and i think its brilliant. Now that i've heard better quality versions of the above mentioned songs, i can now say that this band threw in so many awesome instrumental and electronic sections and sequences that are going to take dozens of listens so that i may fully hear the total sum of each song's parts.
I love how the album seems to build steam as it goes along. The first two songs are dreamy and totally unlike the old TREOS, but then "The Crop" hits you and everything kicks into gear. This seems to happen a bunch on the album, especially during the latter songs. And i freaking love how i can probably fall asleep to this album, play this while studying and/or to help me write, use this as road trip music during the night or just plain rock out.
So far my favorite songs are "The Crop and the Pest", with its inter-twining vocal melodies throughout the song; "The Salesman, The Husband, The Lover", because of its cool story and shifting dynamics; "A Realization of the Ear" thanks to its long buildup and harmonious ending; "Stay Small", which seems to be the best song Thrice never, but should have, wrote and also one of the most rock out songs on the album; and "Pale Blue Dot" which is a great and fitting ending that seems like a more mature version of "Epilogue" from the last album and with alot more weighty & spacey metal thrown in for good measure.
My biggest gripe with "Between the Heart and the Synapse" would have to do with the mediocre lyrics prevalent through out the album. On one hand, they would succeed with such catchy lines as "this is the last night in my body" or "we're all puppets, we're all marionettes/tell me whose that you move for?" and then cancel them out with an over-emphasis on alliteration and sloppy personification like on "The War of All Against All", with lines such as "we are the corp of corpses, we are up in arms and armed". It appears that Casey may have had a hand in this as seen in his grandiose and pretentious Dear Hunter releases, as Brendan Brown takes over fully and has some much more well thought out songs. This weakness has become a strength for this band, all the more necessary considering the main weapon for TREOS would lie in the vocals and concepts reverberated in them.
I understand why people think this album is underwhelming, and it probably has to do with the downbeat mood that seems to hangover every song. But i think once you embrace the fact that the album is pretty much as Space-Rock as you can get, you'll be able to embrace the atmosphere of the album and appreciate it. Plus i have enjoyed reading the "behind the record" notes that the band has been posting as of late on their website and i think its helped me understand the direction and concepts of the album more. I don't know if this CD is better than "Between the Heart..." just yet, but I do think this is already my new obsession and probable album of the year.
