Published on Jul 18, 2003
Blessed is the day I was introduced to my new best friend
Deja Entendu, the glorious sophomore lovechild of Brand New,
whose music is classified by a number of labels such as power-pop,
emo, screamo, or my most favored description: magic. At roughly 45
minutes long,
Deja Entendu conveys an astounding plethora of emotions and
sounds in such a restrained amount of time. Brand New took the
opportunity on their second effort to actually break through the
traditional emo mold of “my girlfriend broke up with me” songs,
resulting in a CD of apparent growth from their debut disc,
Your Favorite Weapon.
“And if it makes you less sad/ I’ll take your pictures all down
/Every picture you paint /I will paint myself out.” Lead singer
Jesse Lacey’s songwriting (on track five, “The Quiet Things That No
One Ever Knows”) has improved by leaps and bounds since
Your Favorite Weapon. Not that the first release was
anything to be ashamed of;
Weapon happens to be a truly great album, but it doesn’t
stand up to the lyrical and musical maturity of
Deja Entendu. Among other great writing on the album, the
standout songs lyrically are number five, as well as number four,
“Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t.” “Oh, we’re so
c-c-c-controversial/ we are entirely smooth/ we admit to the truth/
we are the best at what we do/ and these are the words you wish you
wrote down/ this is the way you wish your voice sounds/handsome and
smart/ oh my tongue’s the only muscle on my body/ that works harder
than my heart.” And number three’s “Good To Know If I Need
Attention (All I Have To Do Is Die.”) “Yes we are a bullet in the
heart and the message sent/ always dragging your feet over sand and
over hot cement.”
In addition to the poetry of the lyrics, the songs on
Deja Entendu explore different styles of music never before
displayed in the band’s previous work. Track number two, “Sic
Transit Gloria…Glory Fades” exhibits a short punchy beat,
where the pulsating lyrics are fired off quickly until it reaches
the chorus, which sounds more like punk than any Brand New I have
heard. Imagine Blondie’s “Rapture” on the verses and the chorus
from Sum 41’s “Hell Song.” Number eight, “Me Vs. Madonna Vs. Elvis”
is sustained for three and a half minutes on an acoustic guitar and
Jesse’s rather haunting voice. It then explodes into a half a
minute long instrumental influenced by eighties hair band power
ballads. It’s finished off with a spirited last chorus so inspiring
you’d never guess the song is one (hopefully fictional) account of
un-consensual sex.
My only gripe on this album is that a few of the songs
sound…uhh…like the same song. But hey, if you like
one, you’ll like ’em all right? Yeah, pretty much.
The two or three similar songs certainly don’t ruin the rest of
the album. I’d say this is a solid effort from a band that has
already shown their range as not just an emo, screamo or power-pop
act, but as a promising musical union capable of (and already
doing) great things.