I loved ‘Is Dead’. I think I’m in the minority when I say that Crime In Stereo‘s earlier albums kinda washed over me a little, yet I was floored by that album. Yes, I like Brand New and those New Jersey bands, but there was something that hit me about the record that drew me in. It just had something and the band didn’t have to bust a gut to hit that spot. ‘I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone’ just doesn’t do it for me. It takes elements of ‘Is Dead’ but twists and turns them and just misses the point of what made that album such a good listen. It’s a bit too experimental, a bit too different and atmospheric. It sounds a bit too much like a band desperately trying to push themselves and push the genre boundaries. At times it works – ‘Not Dead’ is a great song – but too many times it just drifts along with similar sounding song after similar sounding song. I had high hopes, I really did. But expectations were just a bit too high.
There seemed to be a lot of talk about how this record would pick up where ‘The Troubled Stateside’ left off and be a bit more upfront and energetic. If anything this record is less urgent (and dare I say it, more Brand New-like or even a bit Thrice-esque) than ‘Is Dead’. ‘Drugwolf’, for instance, is an unpredictable, dithering track that never seems to get going. I’m all for bands experimenting and trying something different, but this record flows in a similar way to ‘Selective Wreckage’ – ie it doesn’t. While that record was an odds and sods collection and so isn’t meant to flow, this record just stumbles along. ‘Queue Moderns’ isn’t the only song to feature off-kilter guitars and ethereal vocals, throwing in all kinds of stuff into the one song. ‘Exit Halo’ has more changes and experimentation in one song than some bands manage over a career.
The overall experience is that Crime In Stereo are desperate to push themselves as musicians and that’s to be applauded. But it seems to have been at the cost of a cohesive record. It sounds like a band wanting to sound ‘epic’ and ‘massive’, yet fail to get their point across effectively. I criticised ‘Daisy’ by Brand New because it tried too hard to be arty and fell flat on its face. ‘I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone’ does the exact same thing. It tries far too hard.
The album name is kinda ironic. ‘I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone’. The thing is, I wouldn’t really know how to describe this to anyone. Arty? Boundary-pushing? Disappointing? Either way, I think Crime In Stereo have missed out this time.