Pianos Become the Teeth
The Lack Long After
Topshelf Records (2011)
Sounds Like: Fellow “Wave” buddies, Touché Amoré and Defeater, with more focus on lyrical content.
Rating: 9/10
Aside from closed-minded people and holes in my socks, my biggest pet peeve is musical disingenuity. Good music is an outlet, a vivid expression of individuality and ideas. So nothing irks me more than bands that take the stage searching only for paychecks and Facebook “likes.” Conversely, nothing peaks my interest like a band that makes music you can actually feel. Baltimore, MD’s hardcore outfit Pianos Become the Teeth will punch, hug, and high-five you through the speakers. Their attention-grabbing second full-length, The Lack Long After, has me hooked.
This album is only eight tracks long, but it feels like a heck of a lot more in terms of substance. Pianos never take a break. Even the silent, mellow passages seem loud in their angst. Kyle Durfey, the band’s eloquent front man, has a voice that’s as rough and gritty as it is sincere and clear. “Shared Bodies,” the album’s amazing third track exhibits this perfectly. One of the only songs on the album that works in reverse, (starts fast, heavy, and intense but ends melodically and sad) it shows Durfey keeping up with a raging rhythm and tempo. But when the bridge hits and all you hear is his voice in the background, his melody dictates the rest of the song.
Lyrically, The Lack Long After is stellar. “Spine” really illustrates Pianos’ ability to paint a vivid picture with words like “I never set fire to your bed, I never burnt the bed sores, and I never ate the flame, or drank the sweat. But if it burns me up, I won’t char half as much as I’ll keep warm.” Each song is written with unique depth and gut-wrenching insight. “I’m pleading for one more time with what I know now, I’m begging for the same flake to fall twice for the first time, I’m begging for what wasn’t said,” yells Durfey in the leadoff track “I’ll Be Damned.”
Musically, the album’s intensity and unyielding pace go hand-in-hand with the band’s keen lyrics, thereby creating a sort of heavy-hearted, introspective chaos. To see what I mean, listen to “Sunsetting.” Near the end, during the song’s bridge, the vocals are momentarily dropped and the beat is left to ride out, accompanied by a singular guitar wail that seems to be filled with all the grief of the album at once. It’s just amazing, and it pretty much sealed my already-impressed opinion.
Whether it is the poignant lyrics or the violent conviction with which their instruments are played, you can’t help but think that these songs and these words are from the bottoms of their hearts. Pianos Become the Teeth have gotten some attention from their recent tour with Touché Amoré, and they’re poised to climb even further in the hardcore scene. Talent like this can’t go relatively unnoticed for much longer, so if you haven’t already, go grab this album and turn it up.
-Felipe Garcia
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