The Bravery embraces the dark side

By: Casey O'Lear

Monday, December 7, 2009 - 7:06 PM

The Bravery
Stir the Blood
Release Date:
Dec. 1
Genre:
Alternative Rock
Grade:
A

For The Bravery’s third studio album, New York-based alternative rock group The Bravery holed up in the same abandoned church used for recording by the Pixies and the B-52’s to create Stir the Blood, a dark and thoroughly enjoyable rock record.

Lead singer Sam Endicott’s vocals are reminiscent of an early Robert Smith throughout the record, and the dark subject matter featured in many of the songs helps them to sound like they would fit in nicely on The Cure’s 1987 Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me album.

The first single from Stir the Blood, “Slow Poison,” features a steady drum beat and ‘80s-style synthesizers to back up an already strong track. In a dreamlike state, Endicott sings, “I can still remember your sound / It’s cut-cut-cutting me down / Like slow poison,” yet the song manages to maintain an upbeat and danceable rhythm throughout.

The album’s second single, “I Am Your Skin,” takes a significantly creepier approach to your typical love song. With lines such as, “I wanna be your skin, / I wanna feel everything you feel, / I wanna be your covering,” the song certainly communicates the darker aim of the album, with a quick tempo and lively music that lend the track a quality that makes it truly fun to listen to.

In the same vein, songs like “Hatefuck” and “I Have Seen the Future” also focus on danceable beats and upbeat tempos to express their bittersweet messages. “Hatefuck,” specifically, tells the story of an unhealthy relationship, with the narrator describing the abusiveness and lack of tenderness of both parties and requesting that his lover “love him mercilessly.”

“She’s so Bendable,” the only song on Stir the Blood written by bassist Mike Hindert, is one of the album’s best tracks. Slowing the pace down considerably from “I Am Your Skin,” the song takes a more ethereal, slow rocking approach to deliver powerful, heartfelt lyrics like, “Girls like you / don’t need a thing, / ‘Cause girls like you / hate everything. / You’re gonna kill me / when you hear this song. / Does she still love me, / or was I wrong?”

Stir the Blood concludes with “Sugar Pill,” another slow-paced song featuring dreamy vocals. The lighthearted sound of the guitars in combination with other instruments on this track perfectly complement the more complex story outlined in interesting lyrics like, “This is where my thoughts come to die, / and I’m happy.”

Altogether, Stir the Blood is an exceptionally strong album and contains many wonderful surprises.

From louder, upbeat songs to slower, more contemplative melodies, The Bravery really seems to have mastered their own unique sound on the latest album.

Casey O’Lear can be reached at colear@nevadasagebrush.com.