The World Is A Beautiful Place and I’m No Longer Afraid To Die. Just think about that band name for a few moments. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Throw in the fact that they have eight members too and you quickly appreciate that this Connecticut based band certainly have a flair for the overblown and dramatic. ‘Whenever, If Ever’ is their debut album and it’s every bit the adventure that you hoped for when you first clocked their name.
Here you find elaborately layered emo-rock that is light on vocals but drenched in atmosphere and character. ‘Blank #9’, the album’s opening track, is the perfect example of this. It’s a two minute cinematic interlude which leads you nicely into ‘Heartbeat in the brain’. From there you’ll hear the awkward vocals, the delicate but effective guitar lines and the heavier breakdowns. You’d even be excused for believing that the album has, with that change of pace, drifted into the third track. It hasn’t. You know when ‘Fightboat’ begins because you hear the poignant, but decidedly not ska, trumpet line and pick up on the excellent synth riffs. Now you reach the fourth track, ‘Picture Of A Tree That Doesn’t Look Okay’ and the pace has dropped again but the vocals are working more in your favour. It’s a slow effort, isn’t it? Wrong…you’re quickly moving again and the very punk-rock drum beat is the perfect companion.
By the time you reach the half way stage of the album you’ve already been on quite a journey. Fortunately the album doesn’t let up from there and it continues to surprise you. ‘You Will Never Go To Space’ reminds you of all those nights you spent watching Friday Night Lights and admiring the excellent soundtrack, often provided by Explosions In The Sky, before whisking you away to a sound very reminiscent of the band Good Luck. ‘The Layers Of Skin We Drag Around’ is short but very sweet, and ‘Ultimate Steve’ has you questioning which Steve they are referring to. You don’t worry about that for long though as ‘Gig Life’ and ‘Low Light Assembly’ are quite different once again.
You end the experience on ‘Getting Sodas’, which clocks in at seven minutes long, and it’s very Brand New inspired bass lines. You know that this will not last forever…you start guessing where the track will take you next…you fail. The diversity and sense of the unknown has been every bit as exhilarating as you had hoped. You listen again for a second, third and fourth time and you’re still finding new quirks and hidden hooks.
The World Is A Beautiful Place and You Are No Longer Afraid To Die.
TOM BECK