Review Summary: While on the road from negative to positive, Pianos Become the Teeth lose a little something along the way.
Music expressed at any emotional extreme has the potential to be impactful. The positives and the negatives—triumph, loss, devotion, hopelessness to name only a few—occupy an equal plane where each possesses incredible power. They have the magical ability to target memories and resonate within our lives; there does not exist one particular ‘right way’ or otherwise specific guide to eliciting reaction from an audience. A band does not need to be constrained to a certain feeling and can always find a way to produce something that is still strong. Admittedly, however, one component is essential to constructing albums that are truly beautiful, forming connections between the life of the listener and the content composed by the artist. And admittedly, it is this critical driving force that appears to be lacking in
Wait For Love. As strange as it seems given the background of the release, Pianos Become the Teeth are deficient in passion.
It’s hard to necessarily pinpoint where the passion was lost in transition between
The Lack Long After and the group’s current output. Pianos Become the Teeth showcasing their desire to present music that is uplifting, fueled by more positive than negative emotion, is almost expected; it can be exhausting, difficult, and possibly unexciting to consistently occupy one realm of emotional expression. Through creativity and curiosity, artists are naturally predisposed to exploring different avenues with their talents. This certainly isn’t the first case of an emo-influenced collective migrating from their roots, and the change itself isn’t inherently bad. Consider The Hotelier and Gates: the former moved towards poetic indie rock and the latter opted to expand upon their post-rock songwriting, emphasizing atmosphere. Yet, while criticisms were predictably supplied, reception was ultimately high across the board; some even argued that the bands had evolved and became better from their new choices. Raw expression and harsh vocals were left in the rearview mirror, but their exclusions did not equate to a compulsory decrease in quality.
This does not mean that comparisons to prior material are baseless or should be discarded. In fact,
Wait For Love’s primary pitfall emerges from observing what made a creation like
The Lack Long After so successful and one like
Wait For Love substantially more divisive. When one hears “I’ll Be Damned” for the first time, the effects are immediate: the melody and technicality of the guitars, the thunderous drums, and the strained, honest vocal delivery are at the forefront, perceived instantly. By contrast, “Fake Lighting” is more restrained—the songwriting is more subtle and nuanced. The guitars shift to a supporting role, lending the spotlight to the percussion performance and the singing. Tracks progress at different tempos, concentrating on post-rock build-ups (the swell that ends “Forever Sound”) or developing sturdy passages towards memorable refrains (the chorus on “Dry Spells”). Guitar parts endure throughout songs instead of the constantly-changing playing exhibited in the band’s post-hardcore riffing. The tonality and texture of the instrumentation matters more to the success of every entry as opposed to the immediacy, the urgency of something a la “Shared Bodies.” That isn’t to say that one genre is superior to the other; rather, the idea is that the
delivery of the artists’ intent can vary depending on the musical category being employed.
Problems emerge in the precise method through which Pianos decide to display their positive emotions. Perhaps, in an effort to make the optimism concrete, the band mistakenly believed that climaxes should not be as explosive. Think about the way “Blue” slowly winds down, unenthusiastically capping
Wait for Love’s runtime, and then remember how “I’ll Get By” unforgettably closed the listener’s journey with the near-cathartic exclamation of “it’s a hell of a thing.” These two tracks can be classified as ‘slow burners’ in the sense that they travel at slow tempos, reside in elongated time limits, and attempt to cause an impact by leading to an instrumental and vocal peak. However, “Blue” never reaches any high point, and it never feels as though it goes anywhere—the sound fades away, depriving the audience of a satisfying conclusion. What makes this an issue is that it’s a universal phenomenon encountered on multiple tunes on the disc. The lethargic “Bay of Dreams” fails on its more minimalistic presentation, killing energy provided by “Dry Spells”; “Bloody Sweet” culminates with hardly any variation from any performer in the band, making it sound more bored than interesting; and “Love on Repeat” follows a set path from beginning to end, never changing course, and once again purging the record of any amassed momentum.
Why exactly the teeth are taken out of these build-ups is unknown, but it feels as though the band operated under the misguided assumption that to be positive meant to be more understated. To counter the negativity of
The Lack Long After, the band severed ties with what made it successful at its core—the palpable emotion and passion, not necessarily the harsh vocals and riffs themselves. Shortcomings are hammered in by the unfortunately one-note vocal performance; although the tone is pleasant and fine by itself, the lack of dynamic delivery prevents tracks from realizing their potential. Enjoyable songs like “Bitter Red” hit a wall when repeated lyrics are given such a monotone voice. Reprises in “Fake Lighting” can carry significant weight if phrases are given proper stress (ex. more energy on “Come confess!”). All else remaining the same, a wider ranger could improve nearly every effort on the album to a great degree. The set’s conversion to hopeful waters virtually demanded a singer capable of encompassing their messages of love. The absence of this cannot be ignored.
In the end, it’s disappointing, as the group does show promise. Aforementioned “Dry Spells” embodies a perfect way for Pianos to advance their post-rock tendencies, balancing quiet progression and strong climaxes gracefully. “Manila” sports a very attractive guitar melody that erupts in a great chorus, and the bouncy riffs on “Charisma” are very addicting. An added bonus is the diverse, inventive drumming, which exhibits an excellent presence throughout every single moment in the album. Not all is strictly doom and gloom then, when regarding
Wait For Love. Far from a failure, the record instead strikes as a flawed expansion of a new style that hints at lurking greatness. The trick is being able to truly access this latent success without further sacrificing the elements that made the band influential in the first place: not the screams, not the frantic instrumentation, but the passion. And if Pianos Become the Teeth chip away at that central pillar, the downfalls of this release will only be magnified, and the attractive attributes will be lost in the rubble.
