Our Lady Peace's "Gravity," a follow up to 2000's "Spiritual Machines," is both a step in a new direction and the next step in the evolution of the band.-á
The band's fifth effort is the first not produced by long-time OLP cohort and often the band's "fifth member" Arnold Lanni. Instead, producer Rob Rock (of Aerosmith fame) took the reins of the Maui recording sessions. Also almost absent from the album is founding guitarist Mike Turner, who separated from the band earlier this year, due to "creative differences," according to a Sony press release.
After Turner's departure, OLP followed the lead of acts such as Limp Bizkit and held auditions to find a new guitarist. Several hundred audition videos later, the band added newcomer Steve Mazur to the roster and finished recording "Gravity." Turner was still credited on several of the album's tracks.
Mazur has added an element to the group that either wasn't there or wasn't apparent before. His hard-hitting riffs and drawn-out rhythms are reminiscent of Stone Temple Pilots or Creed. Many familiar OLP sounds are still prevalent on the record, such as lead singer Raine Maida's unique vocals.
Still present are drummer Jeremy Taggart's intense percussions. From the sound of many tracks on the record, Taggart must go through drum-heads at an incredible rate.
One thing different about "Gravity" was the recording process the band used. On its past efforts, OLP leaned heavily on the magic of a recording studio's ability to edit and change a track after it is recorded. The band had relied on separate recording sessions for each instrument and heavy mixing later. For "Gravity," the group recorded many of the tracks all together in a room, with all instruments present. This is probably largely due to Rock's influence. Rock has a very classic rock recording style.
One thing the recording sessions will make better is the band's ability to play live something similar to what is heard on the record. Having the band all together during the recording also brings out the passion in each song like separate sessions just can't do. The record sounds a little dirty, a little rough, but still very well done.
Maida's lyrics seem to be almost on the same level as in past albums. Scattered here and there among his usual well-thought out lyrics appear Britney-esque clich+â-¬s like "I don't want to be a puppet for you/I don't want to bite the hand that's feeding/I don't want to be a sucker for you." Not-so-pop culture references still prevail with references to author Jack Kerouac, similar to the guest sound bites on "Spiritual Machines" from Ray Kurzweil, author and inventor of the first text-to-speech reading machine for the blind.
The strong and obvious "falling" theme shines through on "Gravity," as do most of the strong themes on past Our Lady Peace albums. "Gravity" demonstrates that bands can recuperate from losing a founding member, just like R.E.M. did a few years back after losing their drummer of 18 years. The new album, aside from the occasional lyrical shallow spot, proves to be an excellent addition to the Our Lady Peace library, and it looks as though its summer tour will be stocked with great material.
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