New York City, the place where
music never sleeps. The sheer size and density of NYC makes for great
musicians. You're never too far from a jazz performance in a cafe, or a free
concert. I've visited NYC two summers in a row now. Both times have been
magical, not just the personal benefactor, but because of NYC's music history
that dates back to when popular music was just starting to become huge in
America. Government funded performances are as common as mosquitos at night.
Each and every performance has a backdrop of skyscraper's / tall ships / the
statue of liberty - NYC is truly the most inspirational city for music in
America. No band has left their mark on NYC's scene more than The Velvet
Underground. Ever since Warhol's project began in 1964, artists have been dying
to grasp that NYC imagery, that D.I.Y. aesthetic that was the one true
influence on punk/new wave. Music has never been the same since The Velvet
Underground. The 70s in NYC has to be the most important and influential time
period and location - without it there would be no review today. It's not just
New York Dolls and Patti Smith, its Suicide, Talking Heads, and Sonic Youth.
Without these exceptional artists, the 'revival' period of the 00s would never
have happened, and Interpol wouldn't have released their euphorius debut album Turn
on the Bright Lights, featuring a homage to the city, the life, the music -
"NYC". The Strokes happened, Brand New, Yeah Yeah Yeahs', and more
recently LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, The National, and Crystal Stilts.
Crystal Stilts defined their
sound in 2008 with debut album Alight of Night - a sinister noise pop
record that bravely went where every post-punk band has gone before. They
relied on history to take them forward, fortunately for them this was
Slumberland Records. Crystal Stilts didn't quite have a completed sound in
2008, and that stuck with their sophomore album in 2011 In Love with
Oblivion. They've been stuck in a loop of ambiguity for quite some time,
till now - Crystal Stilts have finally found there sound on third album Nature
Noir. It's no Joy Division re-hash, or a Editors/Interpol post punk-revival
sound. They've separated themselves from that scene by releasing some
consistently distinctive material since In Love With Oblivion. The Radiant
Door EP really took the quintet that extra mile structure wise. Pinning
Crystal Stilts' sound down to one specific is just as hard as finding a place
to put your David Bowie records... Like, where is there a shelf big enough and
welcoming enough to have just one row of Bowie albums, seriously... Whoever you
decide to place your Crystal Stilts albums amongst, it will be simplistic,
have a reliance on guitars, with a keen sense of confusion and anonymity as the
recording process of Nature Noir suggests.
Song-writer/vocalist Brad
Hargett writes Crystal Stilts songs without allowing his band companions to listen or
even understand before they get in to the studio. There’s no fixed idea about
what JB Townsend, Kyle Forester etc. want to get out of the sessions lyrically.
It's like a split decision between applying an instrumental to a set of lyrics.
Hargett is a breed of song-writers that have this ability to cross moods with
vocal styles. It's a desperate cry, making the emotions of the human body
pointless. One listen to any of Crystal Stilts' records will show you how low
and pessimistic Hargett can be - Nature Noir is no different. Take the
stunningly beautiful pre-release single "Star Crawl". It puts across
Crystal Stilts' effort in the studio, crafting a down to earth, melodically
neat sound. There's no if's or but's with Nature Noir, it's straight up,
face value. What you hear is what you get, as with the opener "Spirit In front of Me". There's reversed guitar riffs reminiscent of a band
attempting to sound raga rock in the style of my favourite Beatles song
"Tomorrow Never Knows", but with a blunt urgency like Spacemen 3 had
in 1987 with two chords and a wall of sound penetrating audiences' ears.
"Future Folklore" is a
hybrid if I've ever heard one. It takes the lead guitar and percussion of Mark
E. Smith's The Fall circa 1985, and the three chord post-punk /art rock rhythm
guitar and vocals from Jonathan Richmann circa 1976. two and a half minutes of
pure rock and Crystal Stilts energy cannot be undone by a history of great
music. Crystal Stilts are not just re-inventing a period of music, they're
completely re-writing it. Take "Sticks and Stones", a light-hearted
track in the midst of forceful side A. It captures the soft innocence of
Hargett's song-writing, without throwing the guitar overboard - likewise with
"Memory Room".
Nature Noir isn't an album to be
half-arsing. Crystal Stilts require your full attention, especially on the back
half of their third album. "Worlds’ Gone Weird" showcases an interesting
instrumental, with great lead guitar progressions, but like with some of the
past Crystal Stilts' albums, it doesn't seem to go places like "Future
Folklore", or "Star Crawl". The further down in Nature Noir you
listen, the more it sounds like a Jefferson Airplane reunion. "Darken The Door" has those flamboyant 60s percussion sounds and upbeat rhythmic
guitar that plagued Surrealistic
Pillow in 1967. Are just going to pretend Hargett hasn't been going for that deep
reverberated Signe Toly Anderson vocals all these years? Well I’m not.
He clearly has his influences right in front of him as he writes, and as he
records with the music makers of Crystal Stilts. This 'morning maniac' style of
music would fit the psychedelic sounds of the 60s, but it's less than
impressive in 2013 where synthesizers have all but replaced the need for raw
guitar music. Still, we'll always have the heavy, guitar rock sounds of reciprocated
years, but not in the original, innovative sense as Joy Division had in the
late 70s, or The Stooges in the 60s, or Chuck Berry in the 50s.
Crystal Stilts are not a gimmicky one of sound, they’re more like the 70s
influence that's always been intended. Those dark themes laid down by Echo
& The Bunnymen have always been on the cards with Crystal Stilts - this
isn't to say a modern influence hasn't been taken in to account, because
it has. Unfortunately, Nature Noir fails to fails to deliver the goods.
The New York City rockers do rock, and their great instrumentation is extremely
mouth-watering at times. "Spirit In Front of Me" has all the ingredients
for a perfect post-2002 indie rock anthem, but like most Crystal Stilts'
tracks, it doesn't go anywhere. There's the journey, but absolutely no direction.
They play their music great, there’s no disputing their talent as musicians and
as song-writers. There's just not enough here, I’m calling out for more and
more, but they just keep delivering the same. It's almost what's wanted, just
off the mark yet again and they will be for quite some time if they don't work
out how to finish a song / instrumental. Crystal Stilts are a band that suffers
from the fade out because they don't write and record together as a unit. When
theirs individualism included in the process, the formulae changes, you get
lacklustre material. The last three tracks on Nature Noir are completely
forgettable and aimless. There needs to be more organ and far more intensity on
the organ like with the Radiant Door EP in 2011. Crystal Stilts have
improved as artists all round, I’d just like to of heard more material like
"Dark Eyes" and "Still as the Night". At the end of the day,
this is still a decent album, just not at all original or interesting beyond
the first three tracks.
~Eddie
6.0
