6.75 out of 10Find it here.
Until this album, my first taste of The Secret Machines was their 2006 release "Ten Silver Drops" and it took me a little while to appreciate it. Lately when I listen to something new, I've been looking for that one quirky standout attribute to set them apart from other bands. I had a tough time doing that for this band, but I was listening to the wrong things. The Secret Machines don't really have that special something that you hear and right away think "..Oh man, THAT was awesome". And it's fun when that does happen, but then I tend to get burned out on it too easily cause I cant stop listening to it. This band simply lets their songwriting speak for itself. Their style of writing (specifically on Ten Silver Drops) is pretty straight forward rock. Its just well written. But I mean, REALLY well written. Rolling Stone once described their sound perfectly as having Pink Floyd psychedelia, Led Zeppelin stomp, and The Who-inspired choruses. Once fully soaked in, that record had a hold over me, still does. One of the founding members, Ben Curtis, left the band in March of 2007 to focus full-time on his new band School Of Seven Bells. They have since recruited some new members including Fred Blasco who is Interpol's touring keyboardist. They are pretty well established in their sound. Fans of them can hear two seconds of a Secret Machines song and peg 'em right away.
On their new self-titled release, My first thought was "Yup, it's Secret Machines alright." I think I may have expected too much from this record, they had quite the shoes to fill. But I kept coming back to it cause they always wow me eventually somehow. If you listen to this and get bored halfway through, just wait and hang in there. The first cluster of songs are not bad, but nothing to blow your wad over. Typical (but good) Secret Machines. About halfway through is when they start getting "serious". Track 5, "Now Your Gone", really grabbed my attention. I'm always a sucker for the angsty loss-of-a-loved-one type of song. This song is VERY reminiscent of the opener to Ten Silver Drops called "Alone, Jealous And Stoned". The very next track, "The Walls Are Starting To Crack", drags you even further down melancholy street. It winds down halfway through and turns into an impromptu drum solo/reverb saturated/glitchy/random madness, then starts to build back up and goes EXACTLY where I hoped it would. It eventually explodes back into the same chord progression but accompanied with an epic solo and a chorus of what I picture in my head to be a group of large, tearful black women, soulfully whaling away. Second to the last track is a drumless ballad that sustains the provided mood quite well while nursing your wounds at the same time. A faint spread of deep synth gives this song the extra added something that picks you up a little, dusts you off and sends you on your way like a mother sends off a heartbroken child on his way to his first day of school. This song is the equivalent of "1,000 Seconds", the closer for Ten Silver Drops.
Now, the last track, oh man... this IS the standout gem I've been waiting for. Without warning, it explodes into this epic, down-tempo, doomsday, almost skull-grabbing type of hook. It occasionally mellows and allows for the verse to do its thing, but once they burst back into the same hard hook, its always followed by something new to further sustain its madness.
While still a notch below "Ten Silver Drops", this is still a great record. But like I said, if it doesn't tickle your fancy, give it another chance, come back to it later, do what you have to do. With only 8 tracks here, it's a very neatly wrapped package from start to finish.
Standout Tracks: Now You're Gone, The Walls Are Starting To Crack, I Never Thought To Ask, The Fire Is Waiting
