Brandtson has always been a guilty pleasure type band. I have the Letterbox and Dial In Sounds CDs and listen to them from time to time. When I got the promo for this ep, I checked it out almost immediately.
This cd was like a videogame that is alright but has so much shit to unlock it just gets tedious. During the first song ("You Do the Science") you are feeling the beginning of the game. First couple levels or so. You are "in the zone" so to speak. Second song ("On Three") is like the midway point of the game where things are starting to definitely pick up. You aren't really sure if you are near the end or not. The third song ("Circa 1991") and you are already on the final boss. It couldn't have finally come by this fast. You have pretty much seen all there is to see. You have heard Brandtson play upbeat pop-emo to mid-tempo to slow stuff. You start up your second time through the game when you are at song four ("In the Pills"). You see a little bit of stuff you hadn't seen before but nothing all that interesting. Fifth song ("Ain't No Trip To Cleveland") and you are ready to turn this game off as it has the same feel as the first two songs. You are questioning if getting all the bonuses are really worth it. Sixth song ("In a Word") and you are so incredibly bored, you decide to rearrange your cd collection instead of listening to this slow closing track.
Overall, while this cd has some very catchy hooks, it's just not attention grabbing enough to make you sit through the whole thing more than once. Go support them on tour though as they were just robbed of everything and anything and can definitely use it.
Part of me says it's not Brandtson's fault. They formed way back in 1996, and as such, are quite possibly the last of these so-called "emo" bands left that hasn't broken up, gotten picked up by a major, or enjoyed some moderate degree of success. But part of me says fault or not, there's no excuse for a record being as bad as this one is. The whole affair's nothing more than a blatant Clarity-era Jimmy Eat World ripoff, so we can fault them right off the bat for ripping off something that's unworthy of being ripped off in the first place. It's understandable if kids with guitars want to hock riffs from OK Computer or Yank Crime, fuck, I'm even apt to let kids drag out all those cowboy chords off the first few Beatles LPs and throw them around with harmonies. But Brandtson aren't kids. Why they'd want to cop Jimmy Eat World's faux-motivational, empty, feel-good, soulless punk-pop is one question, but the larger one is why this is on Deep Elm. The label also should've known better and been shopping this insipid drivel to the majors as soon as it arrived in their PO box, and gotten a couple points along the way. At the end of all the finger-pointing, the fault resides with the band. They've been around a long time, and should know by now that it's impossible to sing lines like "Don't jump in with both feet forward, don't give in to all those voices that are killing you before you've had your chance to live" or "We wrote this song, it's four chords long, we hope you'll sing along" without sounding like a complete jackass. Likewise, they should also know that playing out a genre that was worn out five years ago is only an effort in showcasing how socially retarded your band is; even the most musically inept person knows that playing palm-muted power chords with lead figures on top was cliche before this band was a year old. I see this sitting alongside a lot of Sense Field and New Found Glory CDs, as its that same type of hollow, generic, idiotic emo, or maybe even next to a few Limp Bizkit or Linkin Park ones, because, after all, once a long day of moshing is behind you, it's always nice to get in touch with your sensitive side, as long as it doesn't make you think. Because, after all, if the band won't, why should you?
