Monday, October 13, 2008

“Early Love” Surely to Brighten Your Day

Zach Fraser

Published: Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Line-up changes, touring issues, and label conflicts are about as much any band can tolerate from the ruthless record industry today and I assure you, Brighten are no strangers to these commonplace difficulties.

Most bands when faced with these hardships implode and call it a day on the very demanding music business.

I’m glad to see that Brighten has persevered through all of these obstacles, proving that their stint on the scene has more to do with the music and less with riding the bandwagon of Urban Outfitters and MTV airtime on “The Hills.”

Brighten open up late 2008 with their EP, “Early Love,” a successful attempt at providing us all with catchy choruses, melodic interludes and love ballads that don’t run dry after the first listen.

Yes, a lot can be said about the direction indie-pop has taken in the last two years; the genre has almost become synonymous with emotionless, trendy, and flat.

“Early Love,” on the contrary, works toward bringing back the sincerity and heart to the music we all miss.

Brighten begins their seven-song EP with “Carolina,” an infectious ballad that surely will be in the back of your head throughout your day.

It’s a warm and uplifting track where the chorus reverberates throughout the song.

“Early Love” doesn’t waste any time in the next few tracks, all showcasing Brighten’s central theme: love.

Whether it’s their ups or their downs, they’re all here on “Early Love.”

Track number four, “We Are Birds,” is by far my favorite song on the EP.

The song is a simple cry of love which comes out, well, very cute (trust me, I searched for many words other than cute that would better show my masculinity, but it really is just that).

“Swing,” the track directly following “We Are Birds,” changes the pace and mood of “Early Love.”

It shows a different side of the band with its hard sound and unsympathetic lyrics such as, “You’ve got that kiss of death and I’m not attracted to alcoholic veins.”

Overall not a bad song and I do appreciate the attempt of an unforgiving song guys, but seriously, killed my happiness buzz.

Let’s stick with less distortion and more cheerful lyrics please.

The last two songs on “Early Love” put the warm sentiment back into your blood stream with “Love Me Honestly” and “What She Really Wants” nicely wrapping up the roughly 23 minute long EP.

The performance on “Early Love” by Brighten puts a smile on your face and a longing for love in your life.

The overall effect might not only come in listener satisfaction, but in anticipation as well for a band definitely to watch in 2009.

I’d give this CD a rating of 4.5/5. For more information on Brighten and to listen to tracks from their latest album “Early Love,” visit http://www.myspace.com/wearebrighten.

Zach can be reached at zfraser@ut.edu.

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