Cymbals Eat Guitars – LOSE

Rating:

There’s a lot to be said about a band’s third record; gone are the first impressions that come with a debut and the jitters that a sophomore release present. With a buffer record under their belt, Cymbals Eat Guitars, currently a four piece from New York, can go wherever they want, and LOSE feels, mostly like a manifestation of this freedom as well as growth. This third album is mature and varied in ways that Lenses Alien was lacking.

“Jackson,” begins as the open that you would expect from the group, but quickly grows into a slightly reformed version of the group. You get the same quiet, growing introduction, but just when you expect them to burst into the song with all guns a-blazin–’ and they do burst in quickly—they jump with more control. The electric guitar squalls in the background, but the percussion aligns with the subtle “oohs” that glide in smoothly. It’s as if the band has entered off the high dive with a precision, effortless trick, instead of just a cannonball. “Jackson” undoubtedly brings the rock too, it comes through with D’Agostino’s vocals that cut through the instrumentation with his occasional guttural screech as well as the back and forth between quiet and peeling out. This track doubled down with “Warning,” that has D’Agostino reeling off lyrics line after line with a quick tongue and a bitter heart, saying things like “friendship’s the biggest myth” and “the shape of true love is terrifying enough.” If these lines don’t scream unhappy endings, I’m not sure what does.

While LOSE shows a lot of growth, some of the tracks fall mediocre and fail to hold on to my interest as they go through. “XR” begins with promise and a little bit of harmonica, but then spins around itself a few times and ultimately goes no where—this isn’t to say that every track has to build to a climactic ending, but the sound is grating at the end of the 2:35 time, and feels like a step back from the first two songs. This is to be a pattern: you get a few solid songs that pique your interest and show progress, and then a little step back.

When you reach the end of LOSE, you will feel an immediate desire to return to some really great tracks, such as “Chambers.” This is the best song from the album and maybe one of the best that Cymbals Eat Guitars have put out, but there isn’t the cohesive qualities of a spectacular-knock-you-off-your-feet album here; it’s good, just not great.