Brand New – Daisy

Brand New are a band that completely and utterly disregard normal musical conventions. They pay no heed to expectations of what they should or shouldn’t do and because of that they’ve had one hell of a career thus far.

With each passing release, the band has evolved and pushed their sound barriers even wider – eschewing all possible genre classifications and nomenclature. They’re no longer the pop-punk band that releasedYour Favorite Weapon in 2001; in fact, they weren’t that Brand New by the time they released Deja Entendu in 2003. From Deja Entendu to The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me they became even more desolate, depressing and and morose; but somehow it all worked. Now you should feel free to throw any expectations you may have for their fourth album, Daisy, right out of the window because there’s no way those expectations will be right.

Right from the starting gate Daisy sees Brand New heading in a new direction. Vices begins with a piano and a female singer softly singing overtop before it abruptly stops and turns into a post-hardcore song. Yes, a post-hardcore song with raspy Dennis Lyxzén’s influenced screams, disjointed riffs and distortion galore. This is no longer your older brother’s Brand New.

But alas, by the next track they’ve jumped ship again as Bed sounds like a cut from Devil and God with Jesse Lacey’s vocals returning back to his almost whispery delivery. It’s an eerie song that comes right before they pick up the pace with the lead single At The Bottom; a track that see them returning to their Deja Entendu phase with a stronger bass line and moderately (very moderately) upbeat tempo.

Of course, Gasoline throws all expectations into the wind again with heavy distortion and feedback and Be Gone is a short, minute and a half country-tinged song. Topped with echoey, indecipherable lyrics,Be Gone defies all convention smashed between the second longest track, You Stole, and the post-hardcore explosion of Sink.

The record is full of little changes, from vastly different tempos to the inclusion of numerous song clips in Daisy and Noro. All of it turns Daisy into a very unconventional album, with desolate lyrics and songs that are able to differentiate them from the masses. It may not be what you expected, but it is Brand New and it does grow on you.