9.2/10
What amazes me the most about the accessibility of today’s music is how everyone could never run out of things to love. It is quite addictive to scour the internet (or any database) for breadcrumbs that lead to what your preferences have set in motion since one band introduced you to another. The process can be exhaustive and even futile at times, but rest assured; you’ll always find something new. There are albums coming out this year that I’m looking forward to discover after completely draining my 2013 playlist of its replay value, yet among the slew that have been released only a few manage to trickle my emotions the way Sunbather or Pelagial did and one of them is Have a Nice Life’s latest.
I would be lying if I told you I enjoyed their previous effort, Deathconsciousness, to put it simply; the builds are long-winded, the catchy parts are snuffed out by boring interludes and more often than not, I put down my headphones in genuine disappointment. While I respect Dan Barrett’s choice of experimentation in blending shoegazey antics with that raw, post punk mentality, there’s still a lot of refining to be done and if his acoustic side project is any indication, we are in for an awesome refinement.
With The Unnatural World, Have a Nice Life have accomplished just that, from “Guggenheim Wax Museum” to “Emptiness Will Eat the Witch”, there’s a clearer, more focused sense of direction permeating every track and it’s mostly due to how straightforward the approach is this time around. The majority might’ve expected a Deathconsciousness 2.0 but instead we got a collection of songs that are as reflective of Have a Nice Life’s older material as they are appealing to naysayers. Take “Defenestration Song” which starts off murky and progresses into something of an anthemic trudge as Barrett exclaims “Get off my back!”or “Dan and Tim, Reunited by Fate” where syncopated bass lines crash against overpowering walls of noise only to disintegrate and be replaced by a lone synth melody that impeccably articulates a contemplative vibe. Both these heavy-hitters are made effective in contrast to the subtler side of the album which better showcases how proficient the band have become compositionally, “Burial Society”, my current favorite jam (sorry), rises to such a cathartic height with its suicidal balladry and its brooding, monotonous beat over which tremoloed guitar passages sprawl. “Guggenheim Wax Museum” is as good as a grower gets with its textural sandwich of low and high-pitched drones only accessible to the subconscious, akin to the creations of his holiness Justin K Broadrick post-Godflesh. Tracks 4, 5 and 6 (which I’d rather not go into exclusively due to the many revisions this review has undergone and just borderline laziness) run in the same vein albeit with varying degrees of catchiness.
It’s apparent that Have a Nice Life are basking in their instrumental creativity, but another element to the writing that shouldn’t be left out is the vocals. Like on Deathconsciousness, most of the singing is modulated to an extent where it gives the impression of being part of an all-encompassing whole. Phrases are repeated several times throughout the duration of one song, climaxing in their most disfigured states after barely making it through a dismantling process. There are moments, however, when I’m utterly convinced that it’s early-Death Cab Ben Gibbard being sad and hopeless particularly during the first half of “Emptiness Will Eat the Witch” and others when Barrett lets his inner Ian Curtis soar. Rarely is a weak delivery present in all of these performances and it’s attributed to the undying passion with which they are constructed. I’ll be surprised if they can top this one in their future releases (what a terrible closing sentence).
ASASI 