Pianos Become the Teeth gets back on track with the focused and moving Drift.
Eight years ago, Pianos Become the Teeth underwent a massive change in sound. Departing from the screamo and unclean vocals that they made their signature, Keep You sounded like a different band entirely. Yet it worked, and worked well, infused with modern emo and post-rock in a massive maturation of material. Tracks like “Legions” and “Enamor Me” demonstrated incredible potential with this new direction. However, 2018’s Wait for Love took a notable step backwards, coming off as sluggish and listless in a sea of similar albums. By no means is it a bad record, but it’s simply competent with a style doesn’t separate itself from the pack. With that backdrop, Drift faces a significant task: regain the vision that made Keep You so singular and compelling.
And as long as you’ve known me,
I couldn’t wait,
And was there something you were gonna say?
Within the first two tracks, Pianos makes clear that this group embraces the challenge. “Out of Sight” begins the show slowly, almost reminiscent of Low during its first minutes. Then “Genevieve”, the first single released in the album’s promotion, ups the pace considerably. One might describe it as “heartfelt”, but that could essentially describe the entire album. This track demonstrates careful layering, creating a near-wall of sound at times. Lead vocalist Kyle Durfey turns in a particularly memorable appearance, ranging from soft spoken to deranged and desperate later in the track.
Bring the sand with us to bed,
Don’t dust your feet,
Don’t catch me with a drink in hand,
Just let me fall asleep.
“Skiv” comes off as even more down-trodden, melancholy yet hopeful, thematically akin to “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” of all things. The music video helps to create the disquiet that the song necessitates, which guitarist Mike York describes as “uncomfortably dry”. Still, the slowcore-like minimalism reaches its intended goals with the hypnotic backdrop. It creates a sense of fear on behalf of the object of the narrator’s fixation, hence the Prufrock comparison.
Gliding like your father’s creatures,
As they cut right through the dark,
Shining back our facial features,
As they try to hide our scars.
“Buckley” is heavier, both with louder dynamics and the greater aggression within imagery used. It displays the most conviction of any track on the album, which helps to set the mood. Even though its no less grim than the rest of the album, it serves as one last shift in the tracklist, holding much of the emotional weight of its latter half. The track ends in what sounds like triumph, despite the clear loss described in the lyrics. The final track “Pair” also bears worth mentioning, a proper closer in every sense. Its last words from the refrain “drift away” captures the album’s essence quite concisely, one that did not have very much positive to say but it had to share anyway.
On the whole, Pianos Become the Teeth have created a dark but moving creature in Drift. Arguably the most successful package since their genre shift, the single selection was simply excellent as they represent the various faces the album has to show.
8.5/10
Pianos Become the Teeth – Drift is out August 26th on Epitaph Records and can be pre-ordered here.