United States are back, following up their Fuck It Tapes cassette release with an pseudo-urgent catcall of angular and somewhat disjointed full-length tunes on an album entitled Divorce Songs. The band is from Brooklyn and these songs, according to the one sheet, are about "surviving the city, struggling in the city and learning in the city." The lyrical content definitely echoes those sentiments throughout these eight songs, but the point is unintentionally muted and buried beneath flat production and a bevy self-imposed influential barriers.
Apparently the guys in United States got sick of screamo, because this is quite a stones throw away from their previous endeavors: The Assistant, Scent of Human History and Sometimes Walking, Sometimes Running. United States play an interesting blend of punk rock, old D.C. hardcore and have a RIYL roster that ranges from early Sonic Youth to Fugazi. Both of which apply to varying degrees on Divorce Songs, which for thirty-two minutes tries to make us understand city life and all it encompasses during it's eight songs. But after listening, it is apparent that a half hour is not quite enough, as the record is only moderately successful.
Divorce Songs starts off with a song of the same name and immediately you get a sense for what this band is about. Punk rock ideas presented in a non-conventional approach, a band abstract in it's compositions with jagged guitar riffing and half-sung, yet only slightly insightful vocals about aspects of city life and its inhabitants. Representation of the aforementioned bands is shown on Divorce Songs but as a whole it's missing the solidness of what made those bands so influential in their time.
Politics, either personal or political always add some sort of other dimension to the way a particular band is viewed. This can be a negative or positive and in this case it seems to work against United States, as there is really nothing to latch onto in these songs. No solid ideas are clearly laid out in the liner notes as to what the songs are pertaining to, and these personally political politics present nothing to sink our teeth into, which tarnish the already hazy ideas of what the songs are about.
The music is a different beast however; it drives the record forward and adds a kinetic and sometimes anthem-laced quality to the songs. "West River," the second song on the record is United States at their best: ferocious, clear-cut and urgent. By the time Justin Sullivan starts singing "I just don't wanna be like that/ I just don't wanna be like that/ Not such a novel idea after all" you will be completely stoked on the rest of the record, so it is unfortunate to say that after listening to the whole record, the other six songs refuse to deliver the urgency and relevance of the previous few.
Divorce Songs is not a terrible album by any stretch of the imagination, but it could have been so much more than what it is. It is severely marred by an unforgiving aspect: the recording quality, which makes the record fall flat on its face. Production is crucial for a band like United States. Case in point: these songs are supposed to gleam with a sort of filthy rawness a la' D.I.Y. sort of production, but the fidelity of this particular recording is the catalyst to why these songs refuse to hit as hard as they were intended to. It's hard to feel the urgency of a band whose songs are supposed to have an urgent tinge to them when you can't discern what is going on in the recording. Everything is at an even keel in the mix and nothing stands out at any time, which makes for lackluster listening. I'm no audiophile, and I'm not here to review what the record could have been, but after hearing Divorce Songs, it seems that United States has missed an opportunity with the recording and mixing of this joint.
Divorce Songs is probably going to be one of those love/hate relationship records for most people, for some (most likely, people predisposed to Fugazi and bands cut from the same cloth) it will hit the sweet spot and others will be turned off by its sub par production and lack of true defining features. It has some good tunes, some mediocre and some sloppy-- far from perfect and a long shot from terrible, this album takes the forgettable middle ground, but sticks with you longer than its thirty-two minute run time.
