Review Summary: 10 years is an awfully long time to be young.
We Are Scientists has got to be up there in my list of favorite bands. They seamlessly blend the musical and personal aspect of the state of being in a band with their amazing wit and live shows. I mean seriously, you can't not love a band when not only do they have a repertoire of ***ing dazzling songs, but are also absolutely hilarious during interviews. It's like they're balancing likability and enigma. On one hand you don't know much about their personal life, but when you simply watch their interviews and shows, you learn a ***ing lot from them. You learn their surrealistic humor, undeniable charm and overall greatness. That's what I love about We Are Scientists, every aspect of them is great. So here I am now reviewing their latest record: Barbara.
Barbara itself however, isn't as remarkable as the band that wrote it. Stripping away every single layer of texture, sound and atmosphere that WAS have established during their past album and re-establishing it, Barbara seems to me like thrown up genius. I mean, it's WAS at heart but the overall sound isn't. I'm not used to having these floaty guitars on top of a significantly hat-lacking rhythm section. It's like "what the *** are you doing Keith, actually playing LEAD GUITAR now seriously man what the ***". It's a good diversion from traditional WAS sound, sure, in fact better than the diversion of style that occurred during BTM, and it's change that is tolerable and commended in a band with what, 3 albums under their belt already. This delay-heavy, distortion-weak guitar work paired with a rhythm section that has never been more rhythmic is change that I definitely believe in. Still though, they kept some of the elements that made BTM so alien and different to WAS fans that dug both WLAS and SFL, like I don't know, the synths?
But hey, it's good implementation of synth work. Unlike in BTM where they crammed every single empty nook and cranny of nearly every single song with synths, Barbara enjoys employing these tricks subtly. Whether it's the pad/key backing melody on Jack & Ginger or the effects unit dickery present on I Don't Bite, this subtlety doesn't sonically assault, but rather enhances. Which is pretty great, actually.
Tonally speaking, the album is also pretty different from WAS' previous works. So it seems that Keith decided to try and emulate Silent Alarm era Bloc Party by showing off the twang and clarity of a Tele and dress it up with delay, chorus, and at times a bit of fuzz. Note how I said "at times", in their debut all of the songs on it were charged with fuzz. Another thing about the tone is how Chris decided against dicking around with effects on his bass this time. Drums are pretty much the same though.
As for the general tone of the album, and I'm not talking about the instruments, it seems a bit more forced. Keith and Co. are in their 30s, they're "getting out of it" so to speak. Skinny jeans aren't looking as fab on em, and neither are the lewd skin tight shirts they usually sports. E. g., their youth's slowly slipping away. The major appeal of WAS is the youthful exuberance in their records, especially in Keith's vocal delivery. But in this record, the studio seems to carry the youth more than Keith himself.
WAS is a band that is ridiculously good with choruses. I'm not sure if it's just the lyrics or the delivery or a combination of the two, but they can pull up songs like Pittsburgh up to the ***ing sky with a simple chorus. "Well only after one thing/Well only after one thing" The delivery of those lines is ***ing moving. And on Foreign Kicks, it gets pulled up too by a line relevant to me. "It's time we, baby/Forget about the summer/It's over". The lyrical themes on Barbara aren't exactly deep, but once taken in you will want to sing along with tears in your eyes. Themes such as the nice guy phenomena, getting over breakups and getting over a bad hangover pepper the lyrics of Barbara. It's good ***, really.
Barbara however is a strangely eerie album. WAS is all about youth yet their youthful spark momentarily stops for a moment in two songs, mirroring how when a young person comes of age, he contemplates his life, contemplates what has happened, and just thinks his *** over. It's a vulnerability that just showcases the fact that everyone gets old. Everyone does get old eventually, and before you do, you're entitled to one last moment of fun. And in Barbara, right after a slew of slow, contemplative quasi-ballads, the album climaxes in a song possessing the youthful charisma that WAS has gradually lost, as if attempting one last vie for glory. Central AC possesses the signature fast tempo and power chord flurries that got WAS into people's hearts initially, as if mirroring old people looking back on better days. WAS is sort of like an old guy in this way, that it's a band that can look back and look at the good old days while moving forward to the inevitable end. That's a sad fact, but it's a fact nevertheless.
Songs the average person should check out:
1. Rules Don't Stop
2. Nice Guys
3. I Don't Bite
