Search - School for the Dead :: A Telephone Built For Two

An Album Built For You

Cat Marigold | Oregon | 09/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Man, it took School for the Dead forever to make the follow up to the amazing, "The New You". Hallalulyah, it was worth the wait. Sometimes, a band only has one good album in them it seems. Who would have guessed that these guys had an even BETTER album in them?



From the first energetic few notes of this album, you're taken on a ride through indie pop heaven. The songs are just as catchy and clever and moving as ever. Henning Ohlenbusch's voice seems even friendlier and more real than in the past and the music jangles and swirls around like wind rushing through your open car windows.



Periscope, the opening track has such a human groove pushing it along, you would swear you were there in the room with them when they were playing it. The songs that follow that opening track bounce around from the goofy to the sublime.



With a lot of records there is a defining track. I have yet to find that here. There certainly is no filler but even more so there doesn't seem to be one stand out. Is it possible for all the songs to stand out?



Periscope is a cascading celebration of a perfect moment in time. "There's no better place that I know, than sitting in the car, while you're cleaning off the snow."



Feel Like I Should is a synth-seasoned pop number with optimistic music beneath a lyrics of self-doubt. I can't get the freakin thing out of my head.



This Time It Looks Good is a Lemonheads-like classic with a simple acoustic guitar and harmonica. A natural sounding Jayhawksish story of two folks giving it another chance.



Save My Place is a bizarre track. Starting with some kind of lonely sounding bird calls and a lone voice the song eventually swells in a cacophony of organs and guitars while the same phrase, "I don't want to be forgotten" repeats. It's atmospheric but very personal somehow.



Journal Of Lies is a goofball quirk fest. Starting out with "I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm scared of them", fans of They Might Be Giants will eat this up, clever lyrics and rhymes, funny music, even a whistle blows at one point. This song would be comfortable in a marching band setting except then you'd miss the lyrics.



Back To School switches gears and sets a lush mood for a long ride through a long distance relationship. This might be the cornerstone track here, the album title comes from a line in this song, but I'm not sure. It's a delicate song with sweet harmonies and a heart breaking story.



Boring Dream, however, is a whole other thnig. Kicking off with batman like electric guitars, you might think this is the Softboys at first. It's a herky jerky rocker with a sweet middle part. Funny lyrics and heavy lyrics combine in an energetic assault.



Disgruntled Lover is almost a country song, but like ten times faster. So many words are crammed into each verse and chorus and after many listens you realize how neatly they all fit together. Internal rhymes abound.



Map, on the other hand, is a smooth atmospheric almost Pink Floyd like piece with sweeping guitars and organs and clear simple singing. "I want you to show me where you used to live".



Superhero goes quirky again with a frenetic tale of unrequited love or of putting someone on a pedestal. "I'm not a superhero, I'm just a guy" it begins and, trust me, it goes from there.



Finally Thinking of a Time, which you would almost imagine might have been the opening track, comes along to close out the album. I love when I can hear that a band had fun making a record. You could hear it on Harry Nilsson albums, Beatles albums, and on early REM albums. You can hear it here. The band eats this track up with a story of moving outa nd moving in.



Obviously, I'm a fan of School for the Dead to have written all of this and to have listened so closely. My question is why isn't everybody a fan? If you dig clever honest songwriters like Freedy Johnston or Sufjan Stevens or you like solid popsters like The Cars or The Shins or Fountains of Wayne (and that familiar voice singing harmonies on some of these songs is, in fact, Chris Collingwood of FOW) then you'll certainly dig this album. Why woudn't you?





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