Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness “Fear is on Our
Side” Secretly Canadian Records
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness seems poised for
success: The Austin-based quintet already has one of the most
recognizable names in indie music, two years of extensive touring
and an EP produced by Spoon’s Britt Daniel under its belt.
After signing to Secretly Canadian, home of the esteemed Antony and
the Johnsons, the group spent the majority of last year recording
its full-length debut, “Fear Is On Our Side.” Twelve
tracks and 50 minutes later, ILYBICD is prepared to put its musical
chops to the test. Album opener “The Ghost” is, for
better or for worse, an adequate indicator as to how the rest of
the album proceeds. The dual-guitar approach (one hammering single
notes and the other arpeggiating reverb-soaked chords), the
omnipresent bass line acting as the driving force, and the
carefully calculated drum beats ““ you guessed it, ILYBICD has
Interpol pegged. The resemblance is uncanny at times, until a
second listen clarifies several key differences. The first reminder
that “Turn on the Bright Lights” is not on the stereo
would be Christian Goyer’s vocals, which rarely ““ if
ever ““ provide cause for excitement. Both his melodies and
lyrics focus on repeating the overused and oversimplified in a
variety of different contexts, and often get lost in the mix. The
atmospheric guitars and keyboard aim for the sonic stratosphere,
but end up somewhere in outer space. The group also lacks the
ferociousness of Paul Banks and his fellow geniuses, resulting in
what can be a tiresome listening experience. Perhaps these
weaknesses can be attributed in part to production quality, but
truly great music can endure less-than-great studio work ““
Broken Social Scene’s self-titled album is evidence of that.
But select instances of originality shine through, namely on
“According to Plan” and the ambiguously titled
“-.” The industrial ’80s-rock feel of these
tracks are a welcome change of pace for the listener, showcasing
““ if only for a brief period ““ ILYBICD in its element.
Album closer “If It Was Me” is an especially moving
finale, continuously building over its six-and-a-half minute
runtime to end in a beautiful mess of twitching guitar, haunting
synthesizers and wailing falsetto. All in all, however, the album
is nothing special. With a handful of mediocre songs, two nearly
unforgivable instrumentals and three delightful exceptions, one
can’t help but wonder what the band might have become if it
had not chosen the darkness cast by Interpol’s shadow.
“”mdash; Dominick Duhamel