Reviews
Candy Bars
On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narratation
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2006-05-26
For the last 48 hours lead vocalist Daniel Martinez of The Candy Bars has been haunting me. I put this album aside for a few weeks until I had time to really invest in it, and then once I did Martinez's voice immediately was extremely familiar to me. I can't shake the feeling that I have heard very similar vocals before and I am literally losing sleep trying to place them.
Let's step back from the voice for a moment. The Candy Bars are an excellent two-piece hailing from Tampa, consisting of the aforementioned Martinez on vocals, guitar and keys and Ryan Hastings on drums. Later on the band added Melissa Castellano, who plays the cello. As the story goes, Hastings and Martinez became sick and tired of the metal-minded customer while working in national retail music chain; and thus, The Candy Bars were born. The debut album On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narration is on New Granada records.
They sum up their music as "incidental heroine pop," and I am going to go out on a limb and guess that doesn't explain much to the average reader. Musically I would use the more well-known term "indie rock" to sum up what you hear. It is honestly like The Candy Bars borrow elements from all of your favourite indie bands to create this superb backdrop for Daniel Martinez's voice. I told you we'd get back to that.
Sure there are moments when I am convinced that Daniel Martinez's voice is reminding me of parts of Broken Social Scene, The Gandharvas (which Terri also suggested,) and even Sufjan Stevens; no doubt, to an extent all of these are true. However, I have decided that none of the aforementioned bands/artists are the source; maybe I truly can't remember whose voice Martinez's reminds me of, but I have a different theory. Daniel Martinez's voice and the way he delivers it in a eerie, slightly trembling whisper to me sounds almost like the voice of self-doubt or fear that everyone has in their head at times. Now, wouldn't that explain why it sounds so powerfully familiar and yet was still so hard to place? Maybe you just think I am crazy; that's okay too.
It all starts off innocently enough with "Landscape." Nobody is about to call this song generic, but in comparison to many of the crushing emotions that the band and the listener go through on some of the other songs "Landscape" seems downright cheerful. If there were no vocals in it could probably pass as a Sufjan Stevens track, but with the vocals it has a much more sombre sound. Also, I absolutely should mention Melissa Castellano, because without her work on the cello this song -- and most of the album -- would suffer from being too sparse.
So it has been nagging you ever since I mentioned "heroine pop" and you want a really great example of it, right? No problem -- "Works Cited" is one of those crushing songs I referred too. As Castellano plucks that cello she might as well be plucking the strings of your heart, and that isn't the only part of the song that portrays this type of emotion. Be sure not to confuse what I am describing as emo, because if that is the impression you are getting it's wrong. What separates the great from the bad in music like this is when the band still provides you with a veiled sense of hope, and The Candy Bars deliver on this. Understand that this song is the antithesis of perky and it will make you think -- and probably remind you of -- something unsettling. Not everyone is into music that does this, but there are many like me who are.
I haven't even quoted lyrics yet. Unfortunately, I do not have a lyric sheet; I wish I did because Martinez's voice is sometimes hard to dissect. "The Flood In Your Old Town" has an almost sarcastic bounce to it, and it even goes as far to add some mild hand-clapping. It starts off with what reminds me of either a merry-go-round or one of those globes your mom had that you could wind up (another writer suggests a pinball table). My favourite lyrics on maybe the entire album are here: "I can be the one/And you can have my son/but holding on to someone's arm is going to be the fall of the 21 st century/because you are all liars." Tremendous, isn't it?
As I spend more time with this album the more I find myself wondering if it has a chance to be my album of the year. This is definitely lofty praise, but the songs have such staying power. "Enough to Choke a Cold Air" is another beautiful track that lands somewhere between Elliott Smith and Broken Social Scene. That is damn near uncharted territory and you have to tip your hat to the band for boldly going there.
When you find yourself wanting to mention every track the album has to offer is always a sign an album deserves a serious score. I'll spare you my gushing on about every track, but before I wrap up I want to mention "The Basque Country." The album ender features kids in the background, in what sounds perhaps like recording some kids during recess. The kids are a wild juxtaposition to the morose nature of what you are hearing. Around a minute and a half in, what I am being treated to gives me a newfound appreciation for the versatility of the cello. You can almost envision the one kid who is always made fun of and isn't welcome playing with the other kids on recess hiding off in the corner somewhere singing this instead of Martinez. Or at least I get that feeling.
A friend of mine said to me the other day "Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and they are entitled to use it." So here is mine: On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narration isn't often going to be your sunshine on a cloudy day. However, it might be that perfect album to help you come to terms with whatever is bothering you on that cloudy day. It will make you think very hard, it will make you feel fragile, and it all ends up being very rewarding. Are you up for it?
Songs to Hear: The entire album.
Score: 9.1
- Dan