Crash City Saints - Are You Free?

  by John Clarkson

published: 2 / 10 / 2017

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With their ringing guitars and pedal effects and its classic era 4AD-styled sleeve, Crash City Saints make no secret of their influences on their second album, ‘Are You Free?’ It combines the distortion of My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain with the quiet/loud of the Pixies and the more poppy edges of the Smashing Pumpkins. ‘Are You Free?’ is in fact an autobiographical concept album of sorts, telling of singer, guitarist and album producer Joshua Gorman’s teenage upbringing in the small city of Kalamazoo in Michigan and his eventual salvation through his discovery of late 80’s/early 90’s alternative rock/pop. It is frustrating then that Gorman’s vocals are occasionally drowned out and muffled by the barrage of guitars, as he has a lot to say in his lyrics about adolescent alienation. The snarling industrial rock of ‘Use Once Then Dispose’ captures perfectly teenage melancholia (“Maybe tomorrow the sun isn’t going to shine”), while the feedback-driven ‘Annabella’ nails the faint hope and dream that that longed-for girl in our class but out of our league might one day lower herself just enough to acknowledge us (“Know my name/Know my name”). The shimmering, strident pop of ‘There’s No School Tomorrow’ with its anthemic chorus and title line meanwhile highlights the jubilance of knowing tomorrow is a day free of casual abuse from the school’s in-crowd and feeling once again the odd one out. Crash City Saints make an inventive use of dynamics. ‘Ice Cream Headache’ opens the album gently with strummed guitars before klaxoning feedback and the pedal effects kick in, but then it drifts away in its final seconds in a mournful mass of trombone and strings. ‘Dawn of a Bright New Nothing’ employs special guest, ex-Cocteau Twins member and Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde on bass and has a hazy, ethereal sound, while the seven minute Monaco/New Order-esque ‘The Hour of the Wolf’ pushes spiraling banks of guitars and keyboards ever upwards to new heights. It has been seven years since Crash City Saints’ acclaimed debut album, ‘Glow in the Dark’, during which time they have had to face both line-up and label problems, but ‘Are You Free?’ has been very much worth the long wait for a follow-up.

Track Listing:-

1 Ice Cream Headache
2 Smile Lines
3 Weirdos Need Love Too
4 There's No School Tomorrow
5 Use Once Then Dispose
6 Spirit Photography
7 Act 2
8 Dawn of a Bright New Nothing
9 Annabella
10 It's Not a Party Until Someone Breaks Your Heart
11 The Hour of the Wolf
12 Harbor Lights

Band Links:-

https://en-gb.facebook.com/crashcitysaints/
https://twitter.com/crashcitysaints

Label Links:-

http://saintmarierecords.limitedrun.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Saint-Marie-Records-164080190305178
https://twitter.com/StMarieRecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/stmarierecords/videos
https://instagram.com/saintmarierecords/
https://plus.google.com/101156744740824013197

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