Pretty Years

Description

LP includes + MP3s.

Pretty Years, the wildly ambitious fourth LP for Cymbals Eat Guitars, is easily the bands most sonically enigmatic and most rewarding album yet. Their trademark cacophonic guitar rock and innate propulsion are still abundant, but theyre buttressed by raucous synth and keyboard lines, and an extemporaneous saxophone performance, which enrich when they could easily clutter these songs. The band also worked more quickly and efficiently than they had in the past, facilitated by years on the road in which theyve played close to a thousand shows, which rendered them a tight, fully-oiled machine in the studio.

Opener Finally shimmers with complex beauty, leading into the sweet rush of Have a Heart, which finds lead singer and guitarist Joseph DAgostino singing, Im so out of sync / And youre out of sync with me, which could well be a mantra for the visceral appeal of this superb record. The entire album is rife with electrified, flashbulb moments4th of July, Philadelphia (SANDY) conveys the madness of life on the road, exhibiting DAgostinos uncanny ability to transform minutiae into profundity. This skill is evident in spades on the records centerpiece and opus, the disarmingly vulnerable Dancing Days. The song also exhibits the contributions of Whipple, and slyly invokes the albums title in its magisterial chorus, as DAgostino contritely croons, Goodbye to my pretty years. And indeed, Pretty Years is a roller coaster ride, both lyrically and sonically, that encompasses what its like to be alive and in the moment. But ultimately, this is an album that keenly captures the magic and loss attendant to living life wide-eyed, and hints that these pretty years may portend even prettier ones to come. On the lead single from this years Pretty Years, these young Americans have gone full Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, embracing 70s rock in all its brassy pomp and soulful stomp. When these guys said they wanted to make a more energetic album, they must have meant one you could dance to.