Take a seat/Take some Tea/Stay with me tonight
Most notably known for appearing in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and providing the soundtrack for a camera commercial (less known for their role in my video Grazie Ciao Prego http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=505530676002) Bishop Allen has released a new album. And kudos to them for being the first band with easily understandable lyrics I’ve reviewed thus far, it certainly makes critiquing vernacular a more feasible job. Their newest release Grrr…, paying homage to the many animals peppering the album, is the second, third, or fifteenth release by the band, depending on how you look at it. They first released Charm School in 2003 while living together on Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge, Mass. Then 12 EPs were released, four songs on each, and named after the month they were released. Finally, a best of compilation was created, The Broken String, in 2007. And now Grrr… a poppy, whimsical album focused mainly around childhood dreams and understanding humankind.
The album begins with Dimmer, the most cutesy of all the songs on the album. It plays on the idea of a child calling for attention. In an interview Justin Rice song writer and lead vocalist said, Sometimes I feel like as I grow older, the world seems like a less focused, more random kind of place….I kind of wanted to make light of that feeling. In the song he begs, Olly olly oxen free/ Can you see me? The song is clean cut, with every word clearly sung and layered on top of a simple melody with crisp percussion and occasional strings. The next, The Lion & the Tea Cup serves more as a list than a ballad. The purported words used to rhyme with tea cup are Copra Cita, although I could have sworn that it was Pobrecita. Pluck all the stars out of the sky/ sit in the dark and wonder why/ that wicked grin/ lets see it again cause it’s tremendous are the highlighting lyrics of the song.
Although South China Moon is more insipid than the rest of the songs on the album, I am a fan of the call and answer style of lyricism. Dirt on Your New Shoes is a song about spending time in Mexico; oddly enough, it can also be interpreted as a song about marriage. Listen for the marimba chiming in at 1:40. Next track: enter female vocals. The song requires a lesson in Oklahoma history to really understand the lyrics. Because everyone knows little fun facts about their states from fourth grade geography, Rice uses OK heritage to spice up the track (even though he’s actually from Texas). Although the state is a bit desolate, the comparison, You’ve got eyes like Oklahoma, is a reference to the expansive skies as seen in the Southwest. While the line, “Oklahoma, that’s what I’ll call you is the historical reference based on the idea that the state was founded by a group before the government mandated it, so this girl is a go getter, if you will.
Taken from a GK Chesterton book, The Ancient Commensense of Things is one of the highlights of the album. The song is about the relationships in life that make sense without explanation, pairs that go together. Most of the examples in the songs involve simple trades (blacksmith, musician, seamstress), but can be extrapolated to attain the actual meaning: an introspective look at significance in one’s own actions.
Grrr…. as a whole is more of a twee pop album because the melodies of the songs were written before the lyrics, but True or False is a song that epitomizes the fact that it’s an okay thing to do when you know how to write good music. The song starts out like a Beirut song and then come the vocals of Darby Nowatka, Rice’s Fiance. The song is reminiscent of Coconut Record’s Summer Day and is a very well-suited duet. Rooftop Brawl has a different sounding drum beat than the rest of the song that comes and goes in the song, but always comes back at full force. The next song, Shanghaied, has an different beginning, and the juxtaposition of the intro to the regular vocals entering at :30 make me appreciate for the return of the regular Bishop Allen sound. However, that feeling only lasts so long because at this point in the album I always start to get the feeling that it is rather cloying and in need of variety. The same feeling continues into the next song, Don’t Hide Away; it begins with a few keys, a shaker, and simple vocals.
The animal references return in Cue the Elephants, the extra upbeat track with the use of a ukulele. The Magpie is the next downtempo song on the album. Earlier in the album my ears were begging for a song of melange, but when I hear it I just want Bishop Allen to take it back. Maybe with more time the song will grow on me, but the drone has yet to impress. The final track, Tiger, Tiger is unlike any others on the album. It is a critique of humanity called to attention by mentioning contrasting animals; the track is backed with circus sounding strings whirling into a climax at 2:30.
Michael Cera introduced Bishop Allen to thousands of people in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist; I introduced Bishop Allen to ten or maybe twenty in Grazie Ciao Prego. I’ll call it a win. Do yourself and a despondent friend a favor and share this album. It’ll make their day.
