Brian Jones – Seriously

Brian Jones – Seriously / 2005 Math Lab / 10 Tracks / http://www.brianjonesrock.com / [email protected] / Reviewed 28 February 2005

The beginning of “Seriously” has an incredibly long lead-in, to which a set of vocals are weakly draped over the grinder-like guitar riffs. The same guitar riffs are kept for nearly two minutes, after which Luke’s vocals attempt to take the track in a different path, only achieved after a minute-long struggle in which nothing is sure. What does excite one about this inaugural track of “Seriously” is the dynamic that the band has – both guitar and bass are flying along furiously as the drums splash. “The Roaring Twenties” is a tad more melodramatic than “This Is What It Sounds Like”; couple that with a strung-out set of guitar licks and what is created is a fairly disjointed track that is confusing to say the least. Continuing the jangly “wall of sound” that started out “Seriously”, “La Kidasan” seems to be more of a coherent assault, with the guitars padding Luke’s own tragic vocals. The repetition that was almost overbearing in “”This Is What It Sounds Like” is moderated by the open-ended arrangements of “The Roaring Twenties” to make for a great track.

The rest of the CD opens up to a brand of emotive-rock that is not unlike the fare released by Deep Elm records in 2002, with some of the basis forms of what would be subsumed into the larger “emo” tag (melodramatic vocals, multi-part harmonies) as well as some other facets that just scream early-nineties alternative. Even though the disc tops the scales at over fifth minutes, one will notice the tracks slip by – the spread-out nature of the instrumental arrangements on “Seriously” are very conducive to getting into a groove. Taking a thematic note from ska for “The Cheat Sheet on Beat Street”, the increasing chaos of the track is only held in check by the fair calm and quiet vocals of Luke.

“Seriously” is an album that has a number of themes running through it that will provide hanging-on points for Brian Jones’ listening base. Some of the tracks suffer from the almost comical pitch of Luke (Mother ’04), and yet other tracks can’t hold onto the very loose interplay between Zac and Adam. Brian Jones plays a very intense brand of music, and their “take no prisoners” credo leaves them out in the dust more than once. There are some solid sections in this disc, but like Disney’s Aladdin, finding these is like finding the title character, a diamond in the rough.

Top Tracks: La Kidasan, Mother ‘04

Rating: 4.9/10