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Review: Titus Andronicus - Local Business [Album]

XL // Will the New Jersey five piece be able to follow up The Monitor?

by AlexRyan, October 22nd, 2012 and has been Read 943 times.
Last Edited by: Jack Stovin October 22nd, 2012.

Following their 2010 sophomore release The Monitor, which was a concept album loosely based on themes of the American Civil War, that garnered well received reviews all round and on numerous album of the year lists, the New Jersey five piece have now released their follow-up Local Business.



Sadly, unlike The Monitor, Local Business doesn’t have quite the same scope in terms of concept, nor is it as raw and unkempt, which may be for better or worse depending on the listener. Due to The Monitor being an incredibly well received album, the possibilities of Local Business being as monumental, or not living to the standard set by the previous record is a quiet possibility, yet these are just my thoughts before even listening to the record.

Along with a strummed guitar riff, with pounding drums lead singer Patrick Stickles comes in with “Okay I think that we’ve now established that everything is inherently worthless, and there’s nothing in the universe with any kind of the purpose”. If that rhyming couplet doesn’t take your attention, then I don’t know what else will with a statement like that. Overall, "Ecce Homo" is a very good opening track for the album, with screamed vocals directed to the listener, a well-placed guitar solo being followed by a chorus of backing singers, leading to the band playing louder and louder, then soon enough slowing down, with quiet and loud dynamics and then, cutting off."Still Life With Hot Deuce on Silver Platter" and "Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape" with the "Flood of Detritus" follow suit of "Ecce Homo", by being incredibly direct and propulsive music, with drummer Eric Harm keeping the beat and moving the songs at a steady, then frantic pace to keep the songs tight and fluid. With Stickles singing of car crashes, then people “gritting their teeth, hating that which comes between both them and their coffee // (Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape with the Flood of Detritus”, Local Business could probably be Stickles, well staple of an album in terms of lyrical content, from observational humour ("In a Big City"), concise self-loathing, heart strung sincerity, all unsurprisingly within the time of one song. He’s seem to have a patent for stringing together these sentences, with rhymes and rhythm, feeding off the energy of the band to give the lyrics a vibrancy and texture, which I haven’t really heard in an album yet this year.

Unlike The Monitor, the instrumentation and musicality of the album is less grand as it was, with The Monitor making full use of a saxophone, trumpet, fiddle, bagpipes and other instruments, that helped the album be so grand. Although Local Business may be lacking in terms of being as a blown-out and ambitious album as The Monitor, with the stripped down set-up it seems to suit the album down to the bone, allowing Stickles to give full range of his vocals and lyrics and the other members showcasing their musical proficiency.



"(I Am The) Electric Man", is where humour comes into play in the album, more so than there has been in Titus’ past, with wise cracks like “Your dick’s too short to fuck the world” and, reminding me of my youth with the “Fella’s!” (It brought back memories of Justin Timberlake’s "Señorita", just to let you know). "Tried To Quit Smoking" is the last song on the record, as well as being the longest at nearing ten minutes may be one of the weaker songs on the album, which is a bit of a shame for it being the last, it seems to lack build and substance for closure, it’s by no means a bad song, it’s just slightly disappointing whilst listening back to the earlier album. With its self-loathing lyrics, “A stupid kid, now a stupid man.” - although personally, a cliché lyric there’s enough passion from Stickles larynx to make it all that more believable, with a countdown at near six minutes slowly changing the song into a barn stomper, how down and then building into a crescendo of noise.

Local Business is an uneven record in comparison to its predecessors, with the loss of momentum nearing the end of the record, although the intensity of the band is there shining throughout. The Monitor was always going to be a difficult album to follow, with its wide scope and grandeur. With it’s stripped down sound and smaller scope, Titus may have not bettered The Monitor yet they’ve made an album that should still be held in high regard and be noted for what it does well, with the album jumping from star to finish that compensates for slow down at the end of the record.

Local Business is released on the 22^nd of October on XL.