Brand new "Daisy" Review

By Matt Stuttler

As I first listened to Brand New’s album Daisy, I thought for sure I had downloaded the wrong album. It begins with an eerie sample of an old recording of a lady singing a gospel song, and then tears into a Glassjaw-esque heavy, blistering track full of straight screaming. This first song, entitled “Vices”, is definitely the heaviest tune Brand New has ever written, as well as the most different sounding track in their entire four-album discography.

The rest of the album is just as surprising. The band seems to have been influenced by those they have influenced, with traces of southern roots in “In a Jar” and maybe even a little bit of folksy twang on “At the Bottom”. They even seem to be taking nods with Modest Mouse, both vocally and with their guitar work. This is not to say that Brand New has progressed dramatically, but that they have possibly matured musically, though not nearly as much as from their first release of Your Favorite Weapon to Déjà Entendu.

Songs such as “Sink” and “Gasoline” are bristling with yelping vocals, lyrical imagery of fire and God, and the burning down of both. Frontman Jesse Lacey seems to be continuing the spiritual quest he began in The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me. Questioning the point of existence in the song “In a Jar”, Lacey sings “Holding out for rest but on the seventh day/ I’ve created nothing and I’m wide awake…There’s too many saviors on my cross again/I know I’m never going to be a perfect man”.

The album concludes with “Noro”. The chorus, “I’m on my way out”, is appropriate for both the ending of this epic endeavor, and also hints towards the rumored possibilities riddled across blog sites that “Daisy” may indeed be the last work of the collective Brand New.

In general, Brand New has added a great album to their repertoire. It’s experimental, but not to the point where they’re doing something different in their particular niche. It has both upbeat and slower songs, with both types washed in walls and sometimes bricks of effects. I would suggest this album to fans of Manchester Orchestra, Colour Revolt, mewithoutYou, or for anyone who likes southern tinged rock, a hint of religious mockery and questioning, distorted overdriven instruments and thumping bass drums, and a little bit of noise and post hardcore elements.