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BANDS: Punk
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LOTD
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The Emergency:
How Can You Move?
According to dictionary.com, an emergency is a condition for urgent need or assistance. In their own Power Pop Guitar Melody Middle 8 genre, these boys feel that the world needs one thing more desperately than anything else: Fun. Yes, with a capital F. And their debut album, How Can You Move? brings just that. The Fun, I mean. These three West Virginia boys open the doors, or rather, reopen the doors to the fun side of rock music, with that ever-intelligent edge of decent songwriting. Think the Strokes meet Dismemberment Plan for drinks. In an industry laden with the lamentations of twenty-something dreams unfulfilled and the saddest existential remorse for loves gone by, the boys of The Emergency aim to bring a smile to your face in your sadness, in lieu of a shoulder to cry on. The opening track of the album, Church of the Chix Denomination, sets the mood for the entire ride, rocking off with the power chord anthem of a big fuck you to the rules of society and the rules of rock music. Its also one of the most addictive pop melodies Ive heard in months that even now, I keep humming ad nauseum. The kids keep up this nostalgia for good times in tracks like Morning Announcements, where they recall the simple pleasures of pointless boozing and banter with close friends. And yet the major issue with this album (or possibly with this reviewer) is that The Emergency seems at their best when at their softest. Tracks like All Over Town ask for a return of the real love while girljacketdrunk tackles the issues of denial and breakup. The listener becomes torn, hoping The Emergency will pick one side or the other and stick with it instead of this bi-polar rock-trip into confusion. It seems that the boys of the band did their homework. The real jewels of the album, Under the Weather, Cracked Up and Matt Wont Come Back all show signs of a real talent, a passion for the music of the world, and a real drive for the music of their own. Each jewel track shows a different side of the complexities and talent of this band, with tight vocal harmonies, intelligent lyrics, and some complex and layered experiments away from the standard We Love Rock Music and Fun equation which the Emergency seems so intent on throwing in your face. Its on the lesser tracks of the album that the CD starts to suffer, with occasional weak and clichd lyrics, simple and boring anthems, and even the sporadic misfire in chord progression or timing. In the end, take a couple of talented musicians, fuel them with an endearing love for the simple days of youth and an undying belief in the ability to make it last; then make them suffer the pains of life and have them come out the other end, neither phased nor bitter. Then youll begin to understand The Emergency. How Can You Move? is a pretty good album. If these boys stick with it, their next will be a great album.
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