Customer Reviews

Now We Can See

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Thermals pound out low-fi post-punk. (As the band says on its website, they describe their music as post-punk "because adding 'post-' to any genre automatically makes your music sound smarter.") Their sound is stripped down and straightforward, akin to Green Day or The Strokes. While the sound is simple, the lyrics are smart and sophisticated and the album is a song cycle about life and death, or maybe evolution, or maybe decline and fall, or maybe the circular nature of existence. Or whatever, I don't think the band meant to create something epic but also didn't want stereotypical songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll. This album is light-hearted and fun and worth a listen.

But I personally like it.

Now We Can See is a very popular song (or was), the other songs have a similar sound but I like them. Some call it whiney, but I don't think it is what you would call "typical whiney alternative", because they have meaningful lyrics and a good sound.

My introduction to The Thermals was their excellent "The Body, The Blood, The Machine" which is filled with hook after hook. I really enjoyed the energy of the first 4 tracks, with the title track "Now We Can See" being the clear standout...gotta love the sugary singalong of the "Oh Way Oh Whoa O". The slow-down of At The Bottom of the Sea is appreciated, but the song drags on a bit too long, defeating its point of pacing the album down to give the listener a chance to fully process and appreciate the rush of the first 4 tracks. ATBotS borders on being a bit numbing. "When We Were Alive" kicks off the 2nd half of the album with a nice little bang, but the slower songs/less loud songs on the 2nd half such as "Liquid In Liquid Out" and "I Call Out Your Name" are lacking in hooks. Overall, NWCS is solid in its own right and fun to listen to, but knowing how fun The Thermals can be as on TBTBTM, this record falls short a bit. TBTBTM is nicely split with a quick burst of hooky power-pop-punk in the first half, the nicely split in the middle by a slowed down song with longer, more epic, yet still catchy tracks comprising the second half.

Absolutely one of the best indie rock albums to come out in the past few years. The songs range from upbeat and cheerful to somewhat despondent, but the entirety is wholesome, a feel-good, year-round, any-time, any-place album. You can't help loving the Thermals.

Even better than their last. One of my favorites cds of the year. Gritty, good melodies, and tunes that stick in your head.