Search - Swords :: Metropolis

Really disappointing--"Entertainment is Over" is better

Elliot Knapp | Seattle, Washington United States | 12/01/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I really liked the first record by the (then) Swords Project, Entertainment Is Over if You Want It, and, being from near Portland, OR, I wanted to support the local talent and buy their second album, now as the Swords. I've given it several listens and I still remain disappointed, and I can't say I'd recommend it. Believe me--I really wanted to like this record, but although the personnel and instrumental elements are all the same, very little of what made their first album such a surprising pleasure.



The songs on Metropolis are much shorter and, I guess, pop-structured. I don't know if this was the band bending to indie rock's blind hatred of progressive and more complicated rock in favor of simple, cutesy pop, or if it was the direction the band wanted to go in the first place, but it's just not as good. What the band forgot, is that you can pair strange, unconventional (non)melodies with experimentally structured music, but when you write pop songs, atonal melodies don't really fit--a hook is something that sounds good. Likewise, this album has a lot more vocals, and when those vocals aren't paired with interesting melodies and good lyrics, it doesn't really gel with shorter pop songs. Most of the lyrics are stream-of-consciousness, relying on repetition of lines that aren't that good, and a lot of them don't really make much sense to the average listener ("Family Photographs"), plus sometimes you can't even understand what he's saying ("The Mark"). If you can't understand what the words, you can't connect with them and get into the ideas, which is one of the reasons I was struck negatively by this album.



Instrumentally, the album is less interesting as well. Where on "Entertainment is Over," the group had long buildups to great instrumental sequences ("Audience of One" anybody?) with interesting keyboards, double drum parts, and violin (where is the violin?), this album provides much less in the way of instrumental hooks, relying on substance-less atmosphere and that whole repeated eighth-note indie guitar thing that defines the genre and homogenizes anyone who overuses it (case in point).



I realize I've written a pretty harsh review, and my intent really isn't to slam the Swords. I think I mostly feel disappointed that they didn't fulfill the potential they represented by their first full-length, and produced an album that is much less listenable and original. Come on people, I know you can do it! It's not that this album is particularly bad, since there are hints of the good stuff I know they can do ("Land Speed Record," "Radio Radio"), it's just that the songs sort of float along, with a similar atmosphere and nothing really jumps out. It's almost like they didn't put much thought into making it as interesting as possible. I can heartily recommend "Entertainment is Over" to fans of more complex modern indie music and fans of older progressive rock, but I really wouldn't recommend this album to anyone I know. I hope the Swords bounce back on their next release, because I really think they have it in them."