Without Music Life Would Be A Mistake

Emerging from behind the shadow of influential indie-rock innovators Braid and its cult-like followers, the culmination that became Hey Mercedes has established more than a following in the indie-scene. They’ve established staying power.

They sealed their validation as one of the most original and versatile indie-rock groups this month with the anticipated release of their second full-length album, “Loses Control,” on Vagrant Records on Oct. 7.

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Like most things that are worth anything at all, Hey Mercedes was born from the product of another worthwhile band’s unfortunate demise.

When Braid called it quits in 1999, fans were devastated. Braid had initiated a much-needed originality and diversity into the scene for six years. They parted ways citing creative differences, but vowed to return again in one form or another.

Not long after Braid’s departure from the scene, two bands transpired, the Firebird Band and Hey Mercedes.

One I detest, and the other I adore.

In a hindsight moment, I realize that I have held an unfounded vendetta against Braid for far too long.

The justification for this ridiculous hatred stems from the first time I ever experienced Chris Broach, formerly the original guitarist of Braid and currently front man/guitarist of the Firebird Band.

To put it simply, I saw the Firebird Band before I ever really got into Braid. A huge mistake on my part, to say the least.

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From that first encounter and then four Firebird Band shows following, I hated everything about Broach:His voice, his stage presence, and especially his stupid eyeliner and vinyl pants. All of these trivial qualities about Broach made me stop listening to the Firebird Band’s actual music and focus solely on him.

It bothers me greatly when a lead singer can take away everything good about the band he/she fronts simply by acting overly self-involved. It really is irritating.

Thus, the main reason I never got into Braid is because I couldn’t get past Broach. Admittedly, it’s a really ignorant reason to not listen to such a good band (Braid), but I have seen the error of my ways and apologize to all who tried to convince me to like Braid. You told me so.

However I still hate you, Chris Broach, and you’ve crept into this review far too much for me to be comfortable.

Hey Mercedes is an amazing band, which arguably has little to do with Braid anymore, and nothing to do with Chris Broach. They hardly even reflect characteristics of their former bands, save the unmistakable distinctness of lead vocalist Bob Nanna.

The success of Hey Mercedes doesn’t rest on their undeniable history with Braid, because they have made a name all for themselves.

They successfully broke away from being pigeonholed simply as “the band formerly known as Braid,” in the fall of 2000 when three of the former members, the afore mentioned Nanna, Damon Atkinson and Todd Bell, appeared live on the stage once again with a new guitarist, and a newly relaxed sound.

Hey Mercedes has laid claim to a sound that carries a blend of pop freshness and rock hooks that are catchy yet accomplished. Their unique style sets them far apart from most bands, and surprisingly it separates them from bands even in their own genre.

Their debut full-length CD “Everynight Fire Works,” held the pop-charm of a Promise Ring album, minus the adorable lisp, and the lyrical strength of any Jets to Brazil album.

“Fire Works” opens with “The Frowning of a Lifetime,” a song with a fast upbeat rhythm and lyrics that denote exactly opposite of the beat of the song altogether. The album moves forward with the melodic “Every Turn,” followed by one of my favorite Hey Mercedes songs, “A-List Actress,” a beautifully random song that contains a fun assortment of time changes and capricious vocals typical of Nanna.

From there, the album contains amazing songs such as “Our Weekend Starts on Wednesday,” “Haven’t Been This Happy,” (which seems to make the cut for almost any mix CD I’ve ever made), “Que Shiraz,” and “Quit,” (which is hands-down my favorite Hey Mercedes song.)

The songwriting on “Fire Works,” is a pop-indie-rock masterpiece. The lyrics are scattered in content and meaning, serious at times, and deeply, carefully procured from the happenings in life. The album is graceful yet admirably miscellaneous in its own right.

“Loses Control,” on the other hand, is a maturely subtle follow-up to “Fire Works.” It’s lackluster in comparability lyric-wise to their first album, but musically, the tones and overall feeling on “Loses Control,” is thicker and more developed, which is a novel change. The songwriting on the whole is noticeably solid and together.

“The guitars are awesome, really layered,” Nanna said on the band’s website. “They just sound big and fat.”

“I think overall, ‘Loses Control,’ is just more of a rockin’ record than ‘Fire Works.’ It’s really loud and in your face. Though lyrically, it’s pretty bleak and desolate,” Nanna said also of the new album.

Like the first paragraph in a celebrated novel, exceptionally written and intended solely to capture the reader, track one of “Loses Control,” is immediately captivating. “Quality Revenge At Last,” is the emotionally charged, delicately written that track opens “Loses Control.”

It picks up the pace as the CD plays on with the second track, “It’s Been a Blast,” the ever-catchy track three, “Playing Your Song” and track five “The Boy Destroyers.” Track six introduces variation to the mix as it slows the album down a bit with a mellow song, “Unorchestrated.”

“Loses Control,” is a plethora of complexly layered songs. It contains songs with thick melodies like that of “Unorchestrated” and track 11, “Absolute Zero Drive,” as well as tracks with pop magnetism such as “Quality Revenge at Last” and track nine, “The Switch.”

This dissimilarity in the tempo of the songs gives an appeal to the album that manages to radiate a solid maturity that should come with any sophomore album.

“Fire Works” carries a deeper depth lyrically and a more cohesive style in each song. “Loses Control” isn’t exactly lacking lyrical depth; however, the lyrics are delivered in a completely separate manner, being less profound and more obscure.

I’m not sure that I can say I like “Loses Control” more than I like “Fire Works.” The lyrics are just so good on their first album. “Loses Control” is also very well put-together, but it’s on an entirely different level.

Rather than saying one album is necessarily better than the other, it’s safer to say they both work collectively to show the enormous range of strengths that Hey Mercedes have accomplished during the past few years.