Today marks the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. She reigned for over 70 years and was the only monarch in my lifetime and then some. Throughout her long reign she was a picture of grace, dignity and duty. We will not see her like again, and while she will be sorely missed, she has more than earned her final rest.
OK...before I get all emotional, let's switch gears and get back to music.
Disc 1586 is…. Delusion Spree
Artist: Eades
Year of Release: 2022
What’s up with the Cover? Whoever thought this half-baked idea of an album cover was a good idea was in the depths of a delusion spree.
How I Came To Know It: I read a review on Paste Magazine and checked it out. Paste gave it 7.7/10 so it is fair to say they liked it a lot more than me, but obviously I liked it enough to download it from Bandcamp.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Eades album, so it does not stack up.
Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3
Eades is an English post-punk band that sounds like someone crossed American nineties rockers Cracker with the Cure. I’ve had a bit of a ‘thing’ for these post-punk English bands in the last few years and Eades’ sound sufficiently intrigued me to draw me in.
I like these guys well enough, but on multiple listens this album made me feel restless more than interested. They are tight and have some pretty nifty bass lines, but overall this record did not speak to me. Nothing I can point to specifically, and the songs are all fairly good, but on balance I was not overwhelmed in a kind of “play it over and over again” kind of way.
The boys have plenty of energy, and these would be great songs to engage in the pogo stick variant of slam dancing. Just lean and bounce and maybe thrash your arms around at your sides a bit. They mix in some clever song construction decisions with all the bounce and are not afraid to shift a song’s tempo or approach midway through to catch your attention anew.
There are also times when the music, goes from feverish celebration to overheated. Kind of like that last song you dance to after once too many beers that leaves you feeling a bit clammy and wishing your group had arrived early enough to secure a table with seating. The production is dense in places and while I liked the shifting approaches, they also sometimes felt a bit forced.
My favourite song on the record is the title track, which as a very Cure-like lilting bass lick. A theme song for walking through some blue-collar English suburb. The song also mixes in some genuine guitar crunch with those wistful basslines. They do a solid job of suggesting a nihilistic wandering with a hint of angry purpose. Also, ‘delusion spree’ is a good expression and something most of us can remember going on at least once or twice in our lives.
“Delusion Spree” (the song) along with “Saying Forever” and “Voodoo Doll” form a trio of songs that form the heart of the record both in terms of their location and their strength.
That said, even these songs don’t stand out strongly from the collection, and for the most part I found myself enjoying every song a little bit, but not ever getting a lasting impression of brilliance. It was just a bit of background driving music, and I need more from my music listening experience than that.
Consequently, while “Delusion Spree” is every bit worthy of Paste’s 7.7 rating (the band is tight, and the music is compelling and interesting) it never really spoke to me. It could be that it was a bit too frantic, or maybe overly busy in the production, although it is neither of those things to a fault. It just didn’t speak to me at an emotional level, and maybe with some of those Cure-type basslines I really wanted it to.
I bought it as a digital album and it isn’t so bad that I’ll be deleting it from my digital collection, but it falls short of shelf-worthy, so no physical copy needed for my CD shelves.
Best tracks: Delusion Spree, Saying Forever, Voodoo Doll
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