Without the 10 years that made up the 80’s almost all the music after 1990 would be very different. If the Clash hadn’t popularized punk there would be no Green Day. No Green Day equals no MCR or The Used or whatever. No Gang of Four= Franz Ferdinand. No Guns and Roses= No Avenged Sevenfold. The point is almost every band is influenced by the 80’s. In the 2000’s the 80’s came back. Some bands were good, Franz and Interpol for instance. Some were terrible, The Bravery and Louis XIV among others. Then there is the middle ground. And in the middle ground lies She Wants Revenge.
With influences lying in Goth and New Wave bands, instantly She Wants Revenge should remind you of a couple of bands. Interpol and Joy Division mainly. The Singer of She Wants Revenge, Justin, sounds pretty close to the lead singer of Interpol, who sounds pretty close to the lead singer of Joy Division. But other than the vocals SWR doesn’t sound much like Interpol at all. Think Interpol covering Depeche Mode.
I first heard of She Wants… on iTunes as a free download. I didn’t think much of them until I saw one of their videos
Tear You Apart. The lyrics transform a high school relationship into a dark and spiraling horror story. Complete with ambient noises, distorted bass synthesizers and catchy choruses Tear You Apart is one of the first great singles of 2006. Not to mention one the best videos, featuring the most evil school dance ever, strange men called “ The Reds” and a directorial spot by Joaquin Phoenix (of Walk the Line fame). The rest of the album is an up and down mix of good and bad.
The Good Tracks
“You can rent the space in my mind at least until the price becomes too high”. This lyric comes in the chorus of the evil sounding trip-hop/ goth album opener
Red Flags and Long Nights. Justin and Adam, the only real members of She Wants, both come from indie hip-hop backgrounds. And you can tell by the beat in this song. After Red Flags comes another single
These Things . At first, with its piano riff and tuned percussion stabs you might think this song is actually a little nicer sounding. Heh… just read the lyrics to the chorus and you can figure out that this is no Simple Plan song.
I heard its cold out but her Popsicle melts. She’s in the bathroom, she pleasures herself. She says I’m a bad man, she blocking me out. It’s cause of these things, it’s cause of these things. With its fairly corny (but kind of cool) guitar riff These Things is definitely a song to check out.
After two fairly average songs comes
Monologue , the darkest “love” song I have ever heard. Complete with more bass synthesizers and Justin’s deep, slightly monotone voice. This track, in the words of Ebert and Roper, is “2 Thumbs Up”. Continuing the strong streak come is
Broken Promises for Broken Hearts . If Panic! At the Disco consider themselves consider them selves danceable “emo” music. They haven’t heard this. Just because this song is about girls don’t go label it another as another Fall Out Boy/ Taking Back Sunday style song. It continues the darker distorted theme but adds a very danceable synth and beat. Definitely recommended.
The third and simplest single comes next.
Sister is not a dance track or even really a gothic track. If any song could be confused for Interpol it would be this track. Up until the chorus of Sister this is just a drums, bass and guitar song. The chorus adds a pleasant synth that really pulls the song together. The next song,
Disconnect , is like diving in a cold pool on a hot day, Disconnect is a refreshing simple song. Featuring just one electric keyboard riff. The song comes in at the perfect time.
If Sister is the most Interpolish song then
Us is the most Joy Divisiony. A slower more serious song armed with single chord per measure synth chords, a simple drum beat and some piano and guitar this is possibly the only happy sounding song on the album. Shocking but true. After the mellow almost Radiohead sounding Someone Must Get Hurt, The Previously mentioned, Tear You Apart and She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not end the album. It’s time for…
The Bad Stuff
-Some incredibly corny lyrics and music (see tracks like
I Don’t Want to fall in Love and
Out of Control )
-Less Hip-Hop influence than one might think seeing as both members come from Hip-Hop backgrounds.
-Vocals sound almost too much like Interpol and Joy Division
-No happy sounding songs. All dark.
-The singer’s hair.
The Ratings
1) Red Flags and Long Nights- 3.75
2) These Things- 4.0
3) I Don’t Want to Fall in Love- 2.5
4) Out of Control- 3.0
5) Monologue- 3.75
6) Broken Promises for Broken Hearts- 4.25
7) Sister- 4.25
8) Disconnect- 4.0
9) Us- 4.0
10) Someone Must Get Hurt- 3.5
11) Tear You Apart- 4.5
12) She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not- 3
-Dan
