Joie de Vivre - Summer Months [Album]

Count Your Lucky Stars

June 30, 2009, 06:54 PM

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Who knew anyone still made emo like this anymore? It's pretty brave - up there with those daring donk boys, Blackout Crew, championing happy hardcore. See, this here is what emo used to be like before it became something else and then something else again, eventually ending up as the green hair streaked, disturbing under-age softcore MySpace avatar mess it is today. Joie de Vivre are all cracked vocals and slow, slow, slooooooooooowly building guitars, each note on each instrument being picked out with isolated care and attention.

So, pretty drippy stuff then! There's no arguing with that - they make Dashboard Confessional look like a hard nut - but 'Summer Months' is not the work of a band who care about machismo. This collection of seven songs could have sound-tracked My So Called Life or Party of Five every single week to wonderful weeping-in-the-rain effect. But there's a thing right there - at just seven songs the whole record comes in at just shy of half an hour putting it uncomfortably in that no-man's land between full album and EP. Why didn't they wait until they had another three songs and then go for a full on album?

Hard to say, but perhaps they were still waiting for their sound to gain a greater breadth. The main issue I had with 'Summer Months' was that even after repeated listens it was still harder than it should have been to distinguish the individual songs. They all bleed too easily into one another because they work from the same template of long dramatic build ups leading to big drum crashes and cracked, shouty, heartfelt vocals. The songs are well made, delicately crafted and on occasion, very effective but it's like listening to the same song seven times.

The minimalist mentality can take a bit of getting used to as well but that could be set to change on their upcoming album 'North End' as they have a new addition to the band who brings with him a trumpet, amongst other things, which could interest things up some. If we're picking favourites I'd go for 'It's Fiction'. The slow/quick simple lead guitar part draws it out from the crowd, coming close to sending the song into *gulp* Coldplay territory.

Is emo, proper, back then? Well it is in Rockford, Illinois but only time will tell if the world at large is ready to pin that heart back onto its sleeve again. Joie de Vivre are a good place to start if you want to find out if you are.

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