Who would ever want to be born again? -or- Pat’s #1 Album of 2008
This thing just sounds legendary.
While Fucked Up have been hardcore’s red-headed stepchild ever since 2006’s Hidden World, they’re on a whole other plane of existence right now. The Chemistry of Common Life is a dense, dizzying pastiche of 80’s hardcore, 70’s rock, and measured bombast and experimentation.
Those that criticized the band’s first full-length may not find much to change their minds on this record, but if you’ve enjoyed any of their work the last couple of years (in particular the flawless, majestic Year of the Pig) the rewards are rich and constant. Detractors will continue to lament the fact that their music is “challenging” simply for the sake of being challenging; that vocalist Damian Abraham has a range that’s too limited even for punk music; that their ideas are more expansive than their abilities. But it’s important to realize that every moment of this album is fully-realized and meticulously planned, that nothing happens without intent.
Whether its intentional or not the band actually does work to address some of their detractors, mostly by throwing more guest vocalists on the album than some bands have members. Right from the flute refrain that opens the first track, a minute’s worth of densely-layered guitars, and the thrilling vocals from members of Toronto’s excellent Lullabye Arkestra, if you aren’t captivated you either don’t have a pulse or are mistakenly writing this record off as noise. Fans of their older, more directly hardcore-inspired material will hate the continued “softening” of their sound, especially considering the two instrumental tracks (one of which consists of nothing more than layered guitars and is quite frankly downright pretty). It’s the best example of everything that’s going on under the surface of these songs. Matador’s press material has trumpeted the fact that the band has as many as 70 tracks on some of these songs, and the three live guitar players often contribute more than a dozen guitar parts to several songs. Each track is bursting with sound in a terrific, complicated way. The aforementioned flutes, Beach Boys harmonies on “No Epiphany,” the incredible melodies throughout and Dallas Green’s (Alexisonfire, City & Colour) vocals on “Black Albino Blues” all augment songwriting that would be captivating enough on its own.
As much as I love the music, on a lyrical level this record speaks directly to me in a very tangible way. The band asks questions surrounding the creation of life as we know it that are complex and genuine. They may come down on the opposite side of the fence as organized religion, but they also realize that too many questions go unanswered for anyone to really know anything and they allow for the wondering. Its an intelligent stance that most people don’t allow for in hardcore music and its a big part of the album’s appeal.
While the advent of auto-tuner, pop country, and Britney Spears’ resurgence prove that popular music only got dumber and lazier in 2008, Fucked Up is the antithesis of everything that was dashed off in an hour-long studio session, pitch-corrected, and soullessly mass-produced.. And if you can’t see it, you aren’t paying attention.
You can buy one of the best record of the year from iTunes or Matador Record’s webstore.
