Jul. 04, 2012 - Issue #872: The Beer Issue
Small Fame
Band Sinister {recordings_bands_mg} Small Fame {/recordings_bands_mg}
FU:M,
4
Bend Sinister does almost everything right on its latest record. Tapping into the sounds of the '70s—mainly in the band's addictive, melodic vocals and the sounds of its keyboards—without sounding like a hoaky throwback, the group sings its songs about broken people, wrapping them up in the healing cloak of rock 'n' roll. Bend Sinister comes at the songs as though this is the band's last chance at life, starting out with a wave of keys and choppy guitar on "She Don't Give It Up," working through the rising, repeated chorus of "We know better" and lamenting lost souls on "She Lost Her Rock and Roll." These are songs about regular folks, the same sort that Bruce Springsteen has made a career out of documenting, and Bend Sinister tells their tales in the most epic of ways for most of Small Fame.But deep into the album, somewhere around track nine—OK, exactly on track nine—the ride starts getting a little shakey. "Hot Blooded Man" is an amped-up bar-room stomp, with some "Frankenstein"-ed keys mixing it up with the guitar, but it probably works better live than it does on record. It's not a disaster, but the frantic riffing just doesn't hold up next to the eight songs that come before this one, with only the band's energy carrying the song through to its end.
Then the next track derails the album completely. "Black Magic Woman" grinds slowly as Bend Sinister slips into full-on blues-rock mode and wails a slow, tedious tune. The notes are all in the right spots, but the band sounds too studied here, losing the freshness of the bulk of Small Fame. Where the rest of the album tears along on the edge of a musical cliff, this one song veers straight back for safer roads and it throws the flow off.
It's tough to rip Small Fame apart for those couple of misses, though, because everything else comes in just right, and the final two tracks do a fine job of picking the record back up again—in fact, "Quest For Love" closes the album on a pretty much perfect—and epic—run of notes. There's a sense of exhaustion as the song ends and the record closes up, calling for a moment to catch your breath. But the melodies have also sunk deep by this point, so it doesn't take long before Small Fame becons for another listen. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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