4:13 Dream

Okay. So, I spent the last day and a half with Dad, and it was a good visit. He got a new couch, so I don't have to sleep on an air mattress anymore! It's brown, and courdoroy-ish. (My spelling suck, etc.) We wanted to go see The Reader, but time wasn't on our side. Oh, well.

In other news... It seems like the trip to San Antonio has been cancelled, due to rain. Oh, well; no Alamo this year. Maybe next. It's not a big deal. There's some other things I can do to get my field trip credit for my Crossroads course, so... It'll all work out. I just wanted to go.

So, let's move on to the poi- Oh, wait.... Let's continue with listing off all the bands who have had, or will, or maybe will have albums drop this year: Silversun Pickups, Thursday, Starsailor, Dave Matthews Band, Chevelle, Default, Chris Cornell, Third Eye Blind, Evans Blue, Blue October, Weezer, Incubus, Goo Goo Dolls, Our Lady Peace, Lifehouse, The Fray, and Aerosmith.
I'm sure there's more.

Anyhow, now to the point. I don't know how this happened, but... Last Fall, I completely forgot to pick up the new album from the Cure. I know! I can't believe myself, either. And, it's funny, because I remember knowing about it... Knowing how they were making a big deal out of systematically releasing singles up until the drop-date... And, yet... I completely flaked when the time came. (If I pull this shit with, say, 3EB... Someone remind me, okay?)

Well, I've made up for lost time by finally getting it today, along with the amungus album I was missing (life, the universe, and everything), and the latest from Thursday, Common Existence. So, what does that mean? IT MEANS IT'S REVIEW TIME!!!


Artist: The Cure
Album: 4:13 Dream
Release: 2008, Geffen Records

Song 1: Underneath the Stars
4:13 opens with a six-minute lead-in, and it's a harken back to the Cure we all know and love. The music is moody and entrancing. There's heavy, emotive guitars, and Cure-ish windchimes. Then there's some drums, but not too many, and that's only when we're getting to the two-minute mark, perhaps to wake you up. After which, Robert Smith's voice... That angelic, tortured, whiney, painful swell of auditorial emotion... Rumbles in from beneath distortion and echoes that you'd expect from Cure. It perfects the mood of sinking into a comforting abyss, with those chimes acting as a lifeline, keeping you grounded so you don't go careening off into the darkness of entrenching love.
I love this opening... This opening, that you'd expect to be a closing.
I greatly approve.

Song 2: The Only One
Oooh! This is upbeat! It's an about-face from u_t_Stars, that's for sure. In more ways than one, in fact. Sure, it's upbeat, and full of happy synthesized noises, but the lyrics are also a change... To a point. Because, yes, this is another song about love. How could it not be? This is the Cure! Anyhow... Where the previous was all about the power of heart-wrenching love, how it soothes and hypnotizes and holds you down... This one is how falling in love will lift you up...
How it's all "like a dream". ...I'm getting Mint Car vibes, personally.
Totally approve.

Song 3: The Reasons Why
So, I'm expecting another song about love. Why not, right? But, Smith throws me a curve, with the opening line: "I won't try to bring you down about my suicide." ...All right, okay. We're delving into the moody Cure. I'm ready!
The beat's kick ass. Before he even starts singing, and I'm thrown, I'm already nodding along. There's low guitars and bass to drive the beat, with some simple drumming, and there's those chimes! Always there, adding a bit of the ethereal. Smith's voice drawls wonderfully on the titular lines, and swells and rises over the low music throughout.
The lyrics are wonderful, and I sense a theme... "I'm falling through the stars," he confesses, and I'm falling, too. Three songs in, and this album is kick the last's ass. Hands down.
Greatly approve.
(p.s. to my Goober friends: This makes me think of that story about Rzeznik phoning Takac in the middle of the night, all guilt-ridden and neurotic...)

Song 4: Freakshow
You know... I should have known that this streak of awesome wouldn't last for the whole album. Granted, the lyrics are interesting, but it's just too pop-y for me... I'm not feeling this one. Oh, well. At least it's only 2 and a half minutes.
Don't approve.

Song 5: Siren Song
Do I hear the distorted twangs of country mixing with the typical keyboards of the Cure? Yeah, yeah I do. Add to that interesting mix Smith singing a tale of a beautiful girl putting him under som spell, and mix it all together with a distorted chorus that folds in and under itself, and you've got this one all wrapped up.
I approve.

Song 6: The Real Snow White
I've got you want? Really, Smith, do I? Nice way of opening with a clear invocation; I dig it. I also dig the use of the typical dreamy groove that accompanies most of their work. And, I'm totally loving how the vocals are falling in and out of being swallowed by that groove. It's interesting: I want to listen to the words, but I get too caught in with the music, and just when I start to close my eyes and get caught up in the notes, I'm back hanging on each and every one of Smith's lyrics. Fantastic.
I greatly approve.

Song 7: The Hungry Ghost
Hmmmmmmm. I can't believe I'm saying this, but, musically...? The first minute, at least, makes me think of a whole other band... Like, maybe something Rzeznik would do. No joke. Then the distorted synths kick in, and the elongated, drowning vocals, and it's straight back to Cure-land, and I'm all good with it. I love their synth work, always have. It's really easy to snap along with this one. And, don't ask me what the title means: I have no idea... Just enjoy it, get lost in the piercing guitars, and the haunting sounds.
I greatly approve.

Song 8: Switch
....It's a switch, indeed. The guitars are more distorted, and the tempo's picked up. It's almost a little too grainy for my ears, and Smith's vocals are a little too quick for me to really dig. But, there's still some bass in there to keep the toes sort of tapping. Sort of. For this one, I think they may be should have kept it without vocals... They get too lost in everything else.
Don't really approve.

Song 9: The Perfect Boy
Oooh, I like these lyrics painting a literal-dream romance. I love this... This one's a little simpler in the music department, but the vocals wonderfully swoon and expand in just the right places, "on the edge[s] of beautiful thing[s]." And, everything quiets, slows, and dives right back in, for the right amount of effect, the set-up for an abrupt end.
I greatly approve.

Song 10: This. Here and Now. With You
A few whispers, and we're off into ambient, typical Cure-music. Then back into the fast delivery of vocals, but it totally works this time, as the music sounds so under water. It's hard to understand Smith on this one, but it still sort of works when everything gets louder and more complex, until it dies down as he breathes the titular lines. From then on out, it's a little easier to access, for the better, I think. Still digging the under water feel.
I approve.

Song 11: Sleep When I'm Dead
More vocal effects... Up-tempo groove, almost dance-ish. I'm wondering how this will balance with the seemingly heavy lyrics. It's a sort of failure. I think there's a major thematic point to the lyrics, but the vocals are buried, so you'd have to read 'em to see what Smith has to say. In fact, I'm going to just read it later ans skip the rest of it now.
Not really approving.

Song 12: The Scream
Barely audible lyrics start us off. Okay. I can dig it. Heavy distorted synth noises, as per usual. All right. Pained, echoing, disconnected lyrics. Check. The vocal delivery is too sparse to keep my interest, and the music is oddly unpleasing this time around, and I find myself not really caring where the song goes.......... Until.......... 2 minutes in.... A long not drawn out, a pause, and then a dive back into it all... And, it's too much of an attempt to save it, so... No.
Do not approve.

Song 13: It's Over
Well, it starts out like a rock song. Like... Like what I'd expect and opening song to sound like. (I see what y'all did there, Cure.) Over a minute in and there's no vocals... I think this one might be the instrumental of the track... With some faint background wails. Nope, almost two minutes in and there's a little more from Smith... But, not enough. Okay, this is... Oh! There it is. Now we've got lyrics. And, I'd complain that it's too late, but the music was rocking enough to keep me interested, so now I wanna hear all of it, all the way through to the end. Rock on, Cure.
I totally approve.

All right. Ending thoughts? I like this album much, much better than their last self-titled release... That one was actually quite disappointing, imo. (Seriously, only two songs stick out in my mind from that one... "End of the World" and "Before Three"...) So, this one is a kickass reminder that the Cure can rock as much and as well as they can emote.

Expect amungus and Thursday to be reviewed soon.
you'll lose the need of certainty, and make-believe eternity to find the true reality in beautiful infinity