Aural Impressions: Our Lady Peace, Spiritual Machines II

It’s honestly bizarre how nervously excited each Our Lady Peace release makes me, despite being slammed over the head repeatedly with overwhelming mediocrity every time.  They’ve only put out two albums in the last decade, and while each had a smattering of high points, they just haven’t seemed to stick with me like their old stuff did.  It’s been just so… meh?  And sans Jeremy Taggart, this lineup has been together much longer than their original foursome ever was.  Nevertheless, we try again, always hopeful that maybe some of the old magic will return.  This time the cheeky bastards have gone a step further, roping me in with but a simple Roman numeral.  OLP’s newest release, their 10th studio album, is titled Spiritual Machines II.  That’s right, this is the “direct sequel” to what might be their best album, the last of the good ones, and instantly places this new record on a high pedestal with impossible to live up to expectations.  They even put Saul Fox back on the cover!  Unfortunately, the two singles released prior to 2022 both left me feeling meh, as usual, so we temper our hopes severely.  It’s for the best.  Plus, it seems Mr. Maida has gone a bit off the deep end with respect to NFTs, apparently ranting about them for minutes on end at shows.  The album itself was actually released as one back in October… and I read the rollout did not go great.  I can’t wait for this ridiculous trend to disappear.  But anyway, I’ll try not to let the circumstances taint my listening — the music should stand on its own, and I feel like I’m in for some surprises with this one.  Let’s go:

1. 1. RK1.Age of Spiritual Machines:  Welcome back Ray Kurzweil.  The futurist contributed a handful of brief interludes to the first Spiritual Machines album.  I’m not ashamed to admit I bought his book (and its follow-up) because of it.  They’re pretty interesting reads, and if what this track says is true, most predictions were bang on.
   2. Stop Making Stupid People Famous:  The album’s lead single, this song is unlike anything we’ve heard from OLP, which is a minor feat given how inconsistent their sound has been.  Unfortunately (maybe?), the reason for that is they’ve apparently decided to pivot into dance-pop, and about 8 years too late to be relevant.  Speaking of, this song also features one line of lead vocals from Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, of all people.  Not in a million years could I have predicted this collaboration.  Honestly, it’s not that bad and the instrumental production feels more crisp than the last few albums.  Raine’s voice though… man.  Not only is it somewhat buried in the mix, but it just kinda hurts to listen to.  He really seems to struggle to push the vocals through.  Dude’s past 50 now, and it seems the years haven’t been kind.  We’ll see if he’s deployed better as we go.
   3. Holes:  Right, so I’m gonna have to recalibrate my expectations because this song almost feels like it could be a successor to the Spiritual Machines sound.  Not a direct one, mind you, but probably the closest thing to it out of the post-Gravity world.  That said, it doesn’t remind me of any song in particular, just an amalgamation of everything with the sheen of new-OLP, a load of Raine Madia’s solo albums, and twenty years of weight on it.  Again, the production is quite good, not messy or overwhelming.  There are a lot of synths, and some electronic drums, but they’re balanced by some nice guitar riffage.  The chorus is a restrained blast of loudness, with plenty of falsetto, while the verses are subdued and built upon a terrific wandering bassline and arpeggiated guitars.  It’s a fairly strong follow-up to a forgettable opener — we’re trending into dangerously optimistic territory, folks.
   4. RK2.Consciousness:  Is Data sentient?  Is he self-aware?  If the answer is yes to both, then I don’t see how he could possibly be Starfleet property.
   5. The Message:  Weird fifths between strings and guitar lead into a bouncing synth bass; very odd.  What it turns into is even weirder, a dancy, heavily plodding groove with funky bass and a galloping, low vocal.  It lands somewhere between The Weeknd and Dolly Parton, with a guitar line pulled from a video game, and I don’t know what to do with that thought.  The verse instrumentation is super tight, but the vocals are again a massive weakpoint, and the chorus feels bloated.  I like the “got a long long way to go” outro, at least until it fades out.  It’s ambitious, I’ll give them that, just a little underdeveloped.
   6. Wish You Well:  They say it’s a follow-up to “Are You Sad?”  I can see that, actually, though it feels like a mellower “In Repair,” to be honest, especially with the verse melody matching it exactly at the start and the acoustic guitar.  I was seriously thrown by that, in the best way.  The chorus is ray of sunshine, with a chord progression and synth strings that (I think) remind me of Moby.  Not sure; it’s a simple I-bVII-IV, so really it could sound like anything.  I actually like this song a lot, particularly in the bridge, where it gets vaguely psychedelic.  So far, it’s a clear favorite — an upbeat, catchy-without-being-overwhelming listen, albeit a tad repetitive.
   7. RK3.UBI:  As much as I think UBI is a good thing, there’s no way it’s coming worldwide in less than 20 years.
   8. Future Disease:  So I really like a couple songs by the band Poolside, and this sounds like it’s ripping off both of them simultaneously whilst coating the fun instrumentals in a thick dressing of baritone struggles.  With a restored Raine, or a better singer, this could have been a hit in 2012.  On the other hand, it’s extremely repetitive, both lyrically and musically.  The bass lick and synths are great, but that’s about it.  There’s something missing here and I’m not sure what it is.  Maybe a more interesting song structure?  Maybe a guitar part that wasn’t just fuzz and bending?  As the second single from the album, this is just very disappointing.
   9. 19 Days:  There’s something to be said about minimalism — crisp drums, sparse bass, and even rarer guitars — that just lets the song speak for itself.  Even cutting the music for a beat on a few occasions serves the sound well.  Naturally, the band can’t really get out of its own way, diverting the cool, steady energy of the first half for a slogging bridge drowning in phased guitar and lofty falsetto wailing — a jarring stylistic choice that’s plagued songs across Our Lady Peace’s albums since Healthy In Paranoid Times.  At least we get back to it quickly enough, with an extended jam to boot, one that reeks of mid-2000s Red Hot Chili Peppers.  I dig it, mostly.
   10. Run:  The first thing that popped into my head when I heard the intro was “beer commercial.”  Uh oh.  This is definitely different — Raine’s verse is a forgettable half-spoken ramble over a bed of sharp percussion and wubbing bass.  The chorus features interjections of brass and some na na nas.  Lyrically, these guys are too old to be talking about staying young and Vegas.  The bridge is actually kinda nice and feels like it would make for a better song on its own (a la “Monkey Brains”); instead some screaming rips us back into the mundanity.  There have been a lot of mediocre OLP songs over the last 20 years; this one is just straight up bad.
   11. RK4.Escape Velocity:  They say there’s a Mike Turner cameo in this track.  If that’s him on the guitar, well, that’s not much of an appearance.
   12. Simulation:  More electronic drums, a low bloop of bass, and a pure falsetto vocal line.  I used to get excited for Raine’s falsetto appearances… his throaty vibrato affectation here is bizarre and I don’t like it.  I’m also not sure if it’s the title of the song, but I’m also getting random Muse vibes here, specifically as the chorus unexpectedly shifts down to a major seventh chord.  To their credit, that’s the most musically interesting thing they’ve done so far on this record.  A short song, I’ll likely not be listening to this one much.
   13. Good Die Young:  Now then, I’m glad we ran through the last one so fast, because this is immediately grabbing me.  The way the descending guitar line ties with the steady beeps and bass is super nice.  There’s more falsetto; though it’s not as bad, it’s still super weak.  Unfortunately for my excitement, the chorus is bad, with an annoying major chord progression that just has that weird, hard-to-describe new-OLP stink to it.  The verses though; I really like them.  De-age Raine’s voice by 20 years and this would definitely be at home somewhere in an alternate-timeline Gravity era.  Shame about the chorus though.
   14. RK5.Turing Test:  Sounds like Jon Hopkins — a decent backdrop for a sci-fi interlude.
   15. Temporary Healing:  Honestly, Our Lady Peace could make some decent electronic pop-rock.  This is almost a modern-day Death Cab for Cutie song, right down to the bright guitar tones, hammered licks, soft synth atmosphere, and comforting bass.  It’s a slow, consistent ballad, mellow and light; perfect for closing the album with a reflective feel.  The outro repeats the synths from “RK5” to lead us out.

Boy, this is a difficult one to pin down.  Let’s just get this out of the way: it’s no Spiritual Machines.  It’s not even close.  Some of the songs (or, specific parts of some of the songs), are among the most interesting Our Lady Peace has put out post-Gravity.  I would surmise it’s because they actually used a real producer this time and the mixes are well balanced, for the most part.  That said, there are a ton of caveats.  No, this isn’t anything like Happiness… or Clumsy.  It’s not even in the same realm as Gravity or the messy albums Burn Burn and Curve.  Their sound is more electronic; new drummer Jason Pierce doesn’t do a lot of rocking, and half of the time the fundamental rhythm is driven by machine.  And of course, there’s the elephant in the room.  Raine Maida sounds… bad.  Like, if he’s not doing anything but singing softly, it hurts to hear.  He really seems to be struggling and it ruins just about every song on this album.  Which is a damn shame — the man used to be a powerhouse, chaotic, yet controlled.  Age has not just rounded his edges, it’s sandblasted his lungs.  While I did like this album more than I expected to, and the evolution of the band’s sound is heading in a direction that doesn’t completely suck (low bar), maybe they should just call it.  Without Raine, there’s no Our Lady Peace, and unfortunately, I think he’s lost.

Aural Impressions: Our Lady Peace, Somethingness

Six months ago, Our Lady Peace released their first long-form collection of music in over five years — four songs in an EP, a preview of a full album to come later.  After a brief wait, that full album is now here, adding five more songs to the four we’ve already heard.  The full album is also known as Somethingness, and it clocks in at just 33 minutes, which doesn’t seem like much given the nearly six year wait.  Now, I really liked at least half of the EP.  How does the rest of the album fare?  Let’s see.  My impressions of the previously released songs can be found in the EP post, linked below.

1. Head Down:  We kick off with pounding drums, chock full of reverb, and a wordless falsetto hook.  The chord progression drops briefly into a minor mood, which is always welcome.  The vocals are buried a bit into the mix and a steady fuzzy bass drives the verse.  80s-style sharp synths punctuate the verse to add some color.  The chorus is rather unremarkable, with Maida’s strained belting not making any kind of notable impact on me.  The bass plods and guitars stay sheltered behind it.  A piano adds some texture to the latter half of the second verse, before we return to the basic bridge.  The bridge takes a interesting turn with a stuttering series of three half-step descending chords, radically changing the feel of the song for a brief moment.  It’s not a bad song, it’s just rather unmemorable.  Raine Maida’s obviously lost a step on the vocals, but at least he makes good use of falsetto here, and throughout the album.  Given how clear his falsetto is in comparison to his normal register, I don’t see why he wouldn’t use it even more.
2. Nice to Meet You:  Easily my favourite of the Somethingness Vol. 1 EP, and perhaps my favourite OLP song since 2005.  See previous post for more.
3. Ballad of a Poet:  Now hang on a second, a challenger appears!  The strength of this song lies in its restraint — it starts with a solo guitar playing an riff, along with blooping echo effects, and a crystal clear synth.  Madia’s soft vocals are up front and clean.  As the verse goes on, the bass and a kick drum add to a building mix, whose crescendo appears headed to a massive chorus, however it holds back and transitions back into a warmly moving verse.  The pre-chorus falsetto makes an awesome ethereal sound in an exceptionally grounded song.  The inevitable stadium-filling sound hits by the last chorus, but again, it’s not obnoxious or out of place; it earns its size over the course of the song.  We end as we began, with guitar, vocals, and synth.  I would say this might be my favourite song of the new five.  Right now it’s not quite good enough to top “Nice to Meet You,” but it’s different enough to perhaps pass it depending on my mood.
4. Hiding Place For Hearts:  A good song!  See previous post for more.
5. Drop Me In The Water:  I feel rather meh about this one.  See previous post for more.
6. Missing Pieces:  Sliding electric guitar and clean acoustic chords here remind me a bit of George Harrison, but that’s about where the similarities end.  This is a slow, yet driven song with a twinge of sadness.  A plain synth starts to hum steadily in the atmosphere.  Vocal rustiness aside, this captures some of the trademark sharp gloom of early-mid OLP.  Silence in instrumentation is wielded effectively here as the heavy, hat-filled drums start and stop.  There’s another falsetto laden hook, yet I just cannot seem to tire of that sound.  Whatever’s gotten into the studio has certainly pushed this band back in the right direction.  This song just pushes on and on with interjections of guitar, bass meanders, and vocal flourishes, and I rather love it.  It feels modern, clean, and solid.  And, despite what I said about previous songs, I think I might actually rank this as the best of the full album.  It’s just really good.
7. Falling Into Place:  It has its moments.  See previous post for more.
8. Let Me Live Again:  Things feel different today.  Drop the vocals an octave, and this song (the verses, specifically, compared with “Val Jester“) would almost fit on an early The National record.  There’s a lot of space here in the verses, between a multi-tracked set of picked arpeggiated guitars, light drums, and extremely subdued vocals.  The choruses explode in a blast of light with strong falsetto vocals, fully overdubbed guitars, and crashing drums.  The first is short, but as the second verse concludes, the following full chorus sees us through to the end of the song, more or less.  There are chord changes that activate my frisson, albeit briefly.  The quick instrumental-ish bridge hides a great sequence of rolling bass riffs beneath its cacophonous vocal cries and guitar.  There’s something very 90s about this sound.  Not OLP 90s, but somewhere between alternative rock and grunge.  In fact, a couple of the chords created between the different guitar riffs match up nicely with the second half of Pearl Jam’s “Black,” to give you an example of where I’m coming from.
9. Last Train:  We finish off this album with a tremolo guitar and space, for a moment.  A dissonant acoustic guitar jumps in and pushes us forward in a choppy rhythm.  Bass is steady and unforgiving as tremolo pops in and out throughout the background.  The chorus doesn’t get big, but merely changes the flavour with its shifting chords and clashing guitar intervals.  The way the vocals keep things moving reminds me a lot of the song “Skin The Rabbit” off the last Dispatch record.  On the other hand, the post-chorus falsetto chant reeks of Nirvana.  Like the titular train, this song just goes ever forward as it began; after a brief lull with a high-passed bridge, it concludes with another chorus.  I’m having flashbacks again to the 90s with this song, but I don’t really know why.  It doesn’t sound like anything OLP, and it certainly doesn’t go any farther with the aforementioned Nirvana comparison than a few discrete moments in the vocals.  I like it, though.

Even with the full record here, I don’t know what I can add to my already noted thoughts.  This is a worthy continuation of an EP that far exceeded (albeit, low) expectations.  Of these new five songs, only “Head Down” is one I would consider subpar, and even that isn’t remotely close to as bad as the worst songs the band had produced in the last decade were.  That said, I have yet to listen to the whole thing as a complete package.  With a reshuffled tracklisting, I cannot yet be sure if it really works as a whole cohesive work.  On their own though, these new songs represent the best collection Our Lady Peace has created since probably 2000.  There’s no overwhelming nostalgia here, though it has its shining moments — what there is is just a handful of great sounding rock songs.  If this sound continues to evolve, I will again be a happy OLP fan.

 

Aural Impressions: Our Lady Peace, Somethingness EP

Update: for thoughts on the full record, click here.

A few years ago, I wrote a very long, comprehensive post about Our Lady Peace.  They are one of my favorite bands, yet their discography is so wildly varying in style and quality that I thought to tackle it all at once.  In the summer of 2014, they put out a (stinker of a) new song and I assumed a new album was on the horizon.  In 2015, they posted an Instagram photo of Arnold Lanni behind the mixing board; a promising sign, teasing a new album produced by the man who’d help craft their peak sound.  Well, after a long wait, the longest between studio albums for Our Lady Peace, they’ve finally released another.  Sort of.  Somethingness is being released in a series of two EPs, which will later be combined into a single record.  The first volume, put out yesterday, consists of four tracks and clocks in at just fourteen-and-a-half minutes.  That’s not very substantial, but at least we know there’s more on the way.  Now, is this half-record any good?  I’m holding my breath and crossing my fingers…

1. Drop Me In The Water:  Crunchy picking guitar in a curious progression.  Raine Madia’s strained vocals sound typical of his later style, which I guess it what happens when you get older.  The drums, by new drummer Jason Pierce, don’t sound terribly boring or straightforward, which is good, although he can never replace Jeremy Taggart.  Musically, it goes to places that remind me of Curve more than any previous record, although certain parts bring to mind more of Naveed/Clumsy than anything, especially that series of chords that ends the chorus.  Speaking of the chorus, it’s loud and radio-friendly, a sound I don’t much care for and that’s been overused in their catalog on the last few records.  This leads us to a quiet, reverberating guitar and low vocals fill out the bridge.  Now this is something I like.  The chiming sound that fades into the dark needs a minute to linger, but instead it’s cut off by a sharp guitar solo and a return to the relatively straightforward chorus.  There are signs of brilliance here, but they’re too few among the mainstream-ness.  Don’t get me wrong, this song does rock, especially the powerful, bassy, instrumental outro, it’s just a step or two removed from what I want out of Our Lady Peace.
2. Hiding Place For Hearts:  A brightly strummed acoustic guitar is interrupted by the crashes of thick piano chords.  Unexpected!  The minor-key progression, with the lower vocals, and subtly wandering bass, reminds me a lot of Spiritual Machines‘ softer songs.  Sudden arpeggios signal into the chorus, which features a somewhat restrained Maida-vocal suddenly let out a series of incredibly classic-sounding falsettos.  I love that sound.  A quick break leads into another verse, this one musically denser yet vocally lighter, with more blasts of falsetto over new layers of bass and production effects.  A second chorus builds and builds as the piano continues to swirl with strings.  I’m thinking this is the best song Our Lady Peace has released since 2000.  This is the kind of direction they should have gone during the Gravity-era — it all feels like a logical successor to the mood and tone of Spiritual Machines.  What a missed opportunity the last fifteen years were, but at least they’re where they need to be with this song.  Better late than never.
3. Falling Into Place:  More acoustic guitars, accompanied by drum hits on the rim.  The vocals are solid, but for some reason they split into a weird stereo effect halfway through the verse.  Quarters on the kick and an electric guitar come through the second repetition, injecting some energy and focus.  Another heavy, suddenly explosing chorus features chaotic production and a falsetto backing vocal that almost sounds like Chantal Kreviazuk.  There are stops and starts, however it moves forward into another well-engineered sound with crisply fuzzy bass,  a descending, stepped-chord sequence, and cleanly arpeggiated guitars.  Also a brief dulcimer.  The bridge is rather dull, and the chorus doesn’t really do much for me.  I can’t get over that second verse though — if only the whole song sounded like that.  Again, baby steps.  This stuff is way better than just about all of the music they’ve released in over a decade.
4. Nice To Meet You:  Now this is different.  And, well, I know I said “Hiding Place for the Hearts” is the best song they put since before Gravity, but I think I might be wrong.  This one is fantastic.  I get old-school vibes mixed with the best of the new-school sound.  The guitar is a patchwork of strummed and picked chords, which aligns with Mike Turner’s techniques around Clumsy.  The verse features electronic production elements that, while not really Our Lady Peace’s sound, fit in flawlessly.  The chord progression is delightfully unique, the bass work is solid, the vocals are clean, front-and-center, and not only do they employ a good amount of falsetto, but they’re far tighter than the “loose” sound of Maida’s current style.  Hell, I even dig the drums.  It’s catchy, doesn’t have a lot of filler moments, and ends just when it should.  Why this wasn’t the debut single for the album, I cannot understand.  I love this song.

For an album in which I was dreading the worst, I am not only pleasantly surprised, I am finding myself wanting more.  If Our Lady Peace can keep this up through the remainder of the album yet to be released, I will be a happy camper.  These four songs, albeit a small sample size, are a definite improvement over Curve, light-years better than Burn Burn, and more interesting and varied than Healthy In Paranoid Times and Gravity.  While there are some parts I don’t care much for, it’s a step in the right direction, finally.  What strikes me most about this, though, is the production and engineering.  It’s crisper, tighter, and balanced.  Each instrument fits in how it should, not drowning each other out.  It’s been a long time since I felt that an Our Lady Peace release was right, and this one, for the most part does.  I am definitely looking forward to Volume 2.