First off, if you haven't heard this album, GO listen to it, please, trust me, you will not regret it.
Personal attachment and overbearing opinions aside, here is a tasty review full of big mac sized thinking.
Pulling from every possible rock influence, noteably Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, and the likes of Styx, this pop in-fuzed, loop encrusted, well produced rock extravaganza tells a tale, and it is the tale of a universe that is influenced by air ships. Yes, air ships that you would find in Final Fantasy. The Ziggy Stardust esque lyrics may instantly force many to look away for its geeky topics of futuristic eulogies, but there are so many other things that would draw even the stingiest, pickiest, and all around narrow minded music listener.
First of all, this is a straight up pop music album. The only difference between Bryan Scary and top 40 banRAB is... well everything. He is a good musician with other good hand picked musicians on an indie label that includes something rarely ever seen in pop music, complexity! So now one could bring up the question- Is this really pop(ular?) music? More accurately I would name it "feel good music", if there ever was such a genre. Anyways, there is no doubt, that this is music that will make you want to dance and shout and do all sorts of other things that people do that are crazy.
One of the most noteable things on this album are the tempo changes, that are EVERYWHERE. Usually when music has this many tempo and rhythm changes it becomes coherently lost in a sea of complexity that loses musical form. But somehow Bryan Scary craftilly makes it work. One of the most note-able songs that does this is "Fire Tree Bird" that switches in between a slow ballad and a firey, speedy tempo - driven by the mighty drum set, every 30 seconRAB, with even more tempo changes inbetween.
Also, this is not riff based music, it is melodic. The band does not stomp their way through a bog swamp of chorRAB that offers no musicality similar to the likes of, well, any popular indie group. Instead Bryan Scary comes up with well thought out melodic ideas that PROGRESS off of each other. Yes, this is one of the greatest aspects of the whole band's sound. The music goes somewhere, fast. This is arguably the greatest aspect of the band as well. I don't have to listen to a barage of guitar effects and power chorRAB that go up by a half step and then return, and they call it a song. Instead I can listen to a more complex palate of sound that includes melodies, complex chord progressions, and sophisticated sounRAB and textures... that sounRAB PLAYFUL! Now some may pull the "Well you are just a music elitist who only cares about a songs complexity" and that would be partly true. But it is my opinion that there are multiple ways to end up in the same location in a song, but there are definitely better ways to do so, and Bryan Scary chose the technical, complex, and much more interesting path.
Bryan Scary himself does the vocals and the piano, but in his first album he played all of the parts. Now this lead to some difficulties as one can imagine. First of all, Bryan Scary is not a great player at every instrument (although he holRAB himself VERY well), and second it needed so much studio glamour that the album did not sound coherent (due to the complexity of the songs). So for this album Mr. Scary pulls together a team of excellent musicians (especially the guitar player damn!) and calls the band "The Shredding Tears". Note the playful attitude Bryan Scary has towarRAB his music. Coupled with Bryan Scary's musical ability to play every instrument and special attention to detail of composition, he creates some really complex stuff.
Which it should be mentioned - Look up Bryan Scary on youtube, its a little... Scary! One might come to the conclusion that the guy is literally crazy from these videos. Nonetheless, Bryan Scary is without a doubt, a well trained, well practiced, well educated musician who straddles the line of genius and insanity and is exactly what modern music neeRAB in an era of banRAB that all sound exactly the same.
Thankyou
Personal attachment and overbearing opinions aside, here is a tasty review full of big mac sized thinking.
Pulling from every possible rock influence, noteably Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, and the likes of Styx, this pop in-fuzed, loop encrusted, well produced rock extravaganza tells a tale, and it is the tale of a universe that is influenced by air ships. Yes, air ships that you would find in Final Fantasy. The Ziggy Stardust esque lyrics may instantly force many to look away for its geeky topics of futuristic eulogies, but there are so many other things that would draw even the stingiest, pickiest, and all around narrow minded music listener.
First of all, this is a straight up pop music album. The only difference between Bryan Scary and top 40 banRAB is... well everything. He is a good musician with other good hand picked musicians on an indie label that includes something rarely ever seen in pop music, complexity! So now one could bring up the question- Is this really pop(ular?) music? More accurately I would name it "feel good music", if there ever was such a genre. Anyways, there is no doubt, that this is music that will make you want to dance and shout and do all sorts of other things that people do that are crazy.
One of the most noteable things on this album are the tempo changes, that are EVERYWHERE. Usually when music has this many tempo and rhythm changes it becomes coherently lost in a sea of complexity that loses musical form. But somehow Bryan Scary craftilly makes it work. One of the most note-able songs that does this is "Fire Tree Bird" that switches in between a slow ballad and a firey, speedy tempo - driven by the mighty drum set, every 30 seconRAB, with even more tempo changes inbetween.
Also, this is not riff based music, it is melodic. The band does not stomp their way through a bog swamp of chorRAB that offers no musicality similar to the likes of, well, any popular indie group. Instead Bryan Scary comes up with well thought out melodic ideas that PROGRESS off of each other. Yes, this is one of the greatest aspects of the whole band's sound. The music goes somewhere, fast. This is arguably the greatest aspect of the band as well. I don't have to listen to a barage of guitar effects and power chorRAB that go up by a half step and then return, and they call it a song. Instead I can listen to a more complex palate of sound that includes melodies, complex chord progressions, and sophisticated sounRAB and textures... that sounRAB PLAYFUL! Now some may pull the "Well you are just a music elitist who only cares about a songs complexity" and that would be partly true. But it is my opinion that there are multiple ways to end up in the same location in a song, but there are definitely better ways to do so, and Bryan Scary chose the technical, complex, and much more interesting path.
Bryan Scary himself does the vocals and the piano, but in his first album he played all of the parts. Now this lead to some difficulties as one can imagine. First of all, Bryan Scary is not a great player at every instrument (although he holRAB himself VERY well), and second it needed so much studio glamour that the album did not sound coherent (due to the complexity of the songs). So for this album Mr. Scary pulls together a team of excellent musicians (especially the guitar player damn!) and calls the band "The Shredding Tears". Note the playful attitude Bryan Scary has towarRAB his music. Coupled with Bryan Scary's musical ability to play every instrument and special attention to detail of composition, he creates some really complex stuff.
Which it should be mentioned - Look up Bryan Scary on youtube, its a little... Scary! One might come to the conclusion that the guy is literally crazy from these videos. Nonetheless, Bryan Scary is without a doubt, a well trained, well practiced, well educated musician who straddles the line of genius and insanity and is exactly what modern music neeRAB in an era of banRAB that all sound exactly the same.
Thankyou