I'm a little unsure what to think of this local band called NewClear.
I've been listening to their album "The Spoon EP" for a couple weeks now. And while their music is competently played, and does seem to have something for everyone (as their press-kit claims) I'm left feeling like I've missed something they've hidden called "the point". After all, they have declared themselves "the defenders of good music for your listening enjoyment" ... but all I got out of the album was an amalgam of their many influences and an absence of substance.
Yes, these guys can play. But there's more to a good album than a handful of songs with catchy tunes. If that's all you're going for, then by all means go check NewClear out in a live setting and you'll find something to enjoy. I, however, missed the substance of a real album experience. For one thing, the album's lyrics were trite and uninteresting. Take this section from "Bender": What the hell is going on? I think I want to run away and sit myself right down here in the corner ... I don't know just how I feel, and I don't know what I've got, I just want to get away. And by that point I was already yawning, because if the lead singer isn't able to get the thought across, a listener has no reason (other than the catchy crunch of guitars in the background) to care.
See, there's something else to rock music beyond combining your love of Weezer, the Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana and then adding lyrics that are filled with angst. That may be what Clear Channel has made everyone think will sell ... because it will ... but isn't that missing the point? Music's about self-expression, and if all you're expressing is the angst others expect you to express, nothing new is laid on the table. And nothing makes a listener want to show any interest.
After playing "The Spoon EP" perhaps more times than it was necessary to have made up my mind, I couldn't get past the fact that more care seemed to have been put into developing an image for NewClear than was put into developing the music. While the liner notes were almost unbearably designed to emulate a diner menu, complete with "descriptive" captions for each song. An example? Try "Autoclock": "Baked Guitarzini, glazed with a rich Bass sauce and garnished with a dash of Synthetic Piano, all served over a healthy portion of drumsticks and ..." Anyway, you get the point. Had they put this much effort into making their lyrics and songs make sense as a whole, I might have found more to recommend.
Instead, my reaction seems cold and calculated. And I hate to seem unusually harsh or detached about the album. But as a music critic my job is to let readers know which indie music is worth further exploration. Like the clich+â-¬ expressed in "Edge of the World" (I racked myself on the edge of the world, gonna be opaque because I like it ... I put my faith in a free phone call and now I want my money back) I wracked my brain trying to come up with something good I could hear to make this album worth my recommendation.
Instead I have to say they struck out.
Rating: *1/2
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