There were better debuts released in 2009, but few as flat out likeable as the first effort from Staten Island four-piece Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There Are Mountains. Taking that as an essay title, the text would simply read ‘To be hollowed out so we can fill them will our millions of ideas’, followed by a long list to flesh out the word count. Though some (not many, admittedly) found the constantly shifting songs overstuffed and fidgety, the rest of us dug the passion, energy and endless replay value.
Now, in fairly timely fashion, we have the sophomore album, with all the expected fanfare of a follow up from a young band; reshuffled lineup (au revoir Dan Baer and Neil Berenholz, welcome Brian Hamilton and Matthew Whipple), less optimistic lyrical themes, an initially puzzling list of influences (Spiritualized, Bellowhead and slowcore, according to an interview with Spin ). So, is this a Contra, an Antics or a (gulp) Second Coming.. The answer, and it’s not a simple one, is somewhere in between. Contics, if you will.
Lenses Alien demands a hefty chunk of your time, unsurprising for a band who specialise in replayability, and refreshing in an industry too frequently flooded by instant, hollow gratification. To shamelessly anthropomorphise, it’s the girl who keeps fairly quiet but occasionally drops the kind of flirt-bomb that keeps you coming back long after her noisy friends have bored you to death. She even gets a little cuter every time you see her.
A lot of this has to do with those ideas Cymbals Eat Guitars keep having. Though this can initially be frustrating – if you hear a hook you like, you’ll either have to rewind or wait ‘til the whole album loops if you want to hear it again – it makes for a more rewarding experience. Moments such as the glorious intro to Secret Family – and every glorious second of highlight Shore Points – hit straight away and would make for stand out moments on a Wrens LP, but even the initially impenetrable and seemingly aimless Plainclothes eventually gives up some stunning textures and some of the album’s most compelling lyrics (‘But he drove so far away from Belmar / because all of the people there / hung glow in the dark masks on every single screen door’).
As a band, Cymbals Eat Guitars show a clear and encouraging progression. Joseph D’Agostino, a sometimes anonymous vocalist, has finally found a distinctive, original voice here. Speaking to God is in the TV via twitter, the band cited the influence of Spiritualized’s ‘deeply affecting lyrics’ and ‘swirling, psychedelic, heavy-instrumentation.’ In addition, they mentioned the desire to have ‘moments where the sound was massive, but coming from just the four of [them] in a room together’. This is most apparent during opener Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name), a moody 8 minute beast that almost works as the downbeat twin of their debut’s opening track, And The Hazy Sea… As the disturbing, impressionist lyrics take you down dark roads (‘some drugged corrupt husk / scrubbed up for the surgery’), cavernous drums pile onto layers of cacophonous guitars until the whole thing collapses under its own weight. It’s breathtaking.
Lenses Alien is by no means perfect. The momentum of some tracks, particularly the otherwise excellent Definite Darkness, gets completely derailed by a handful of tuneless, plodding interludes. There’s a tendency, when the ideas run out, to lapse into tired Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. pastiche. Most puzzling of all is Wavelengths, which seems to be gearing up for a blistering prog jam before it’s mercilessly cut short after just two minutes. But these are pretty minor quibbles, and this is an immensely rewarding follow up from a band who have shown that they aren’t afraid to push themselves.
[Rating: 4]
