“Everything Is Debatable”
Hellogoodbye. Fans listened to them in middle school, and thought they disappeared along with those awkward years. Their strange mix of emo, alternative and electronic sound with lyrics about hopeless love and adolescent troubles made the girls swoon.
But, while listening to their half-decade old hits like “Here In Your Arms” and “Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn,” it’s hard not to shake one’s head in embarrassment.
Hellogoodbye, however, managed to catch the attention of old fans who thought they had outgrown their music at Fingerprints Music on Oct. 20, where they played a release show for their new album, “Everything Is Debatable.” The album hit shelves yesterday.
The new album definitely maintains the boy-band characteristics that Hellogoodbye radiates, but this time around, they dropped the emo for a more modern sound. Lead singer Forrest Kline maintained his high-pitched vibrato and lighthearted lyrics in a few songs such as “Summer Of The Lily Pond,” and “I Don’t Worry.”
A majority of the instrumentation on the new album is keyboarding and synthesizer vibes accompanied by distant vocalization and hypnotic rhythm. The sound conforms to some of today’s electronic indie-pop sound from popular bands such as The Naked and Famous and M83.
Kline still sings of cutesy love and laments of heartbreak, but does so in a more amusing manner. This album speaks more to this generation, and is debatably more danceable with the heavier bass and textural effects.
Fans can say “goodbye” to memories of rainbow-colored shoelaces and black nail polish, and “hello” to the band’s revamped sound.
“Reflektor”
Arcade Fire has set the rock music world ablaze with its fourth album, “Reflektor.”
From the album’s opening chord, fans of the Montreal-based indie band can easily hear the new musical direction the band has taken.
On the album’s title track, frontman Win Butler sings in a hushed voice, “If this is heaven / I need something more / Just a place to be alone / ‘Cause you’re my home.”
What stands out about the song is its finely produced sound from LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy.
Synthesizers, repetitive bass riffs and a churning drumbeat dominates much of the title song.
Recorded as a double album, “Reflektor” stands at more than 75 minutes long. Despite the album’s length, the number of finely crafted tunes seems endless.
The second track on the album, “We Exist,” features a bass rumble similar to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”
Complete with bare vocals from Butler and melodic harmonies from the rest of the band, “We Exist” is one of the album’s many gems.
Perhaps the album’s most engaging track is “Afterlife,” a tale of Butler pondering life after death.
“Afterlife / Oh my God, what an awful word,” Butler sings with a passion that exudes loneliness and doubt. “Can we just work it out? / Scream and shout ‘till we work it out.”
With “Reflektor,” it’s clear that Arcade Fire is operating at its peak. The album is easily the band’s finest masterpiece.
The new album came out yesterday and is now available on iTunes.