By Divine Right
's fourth album,
Sweet Confusion
, is an interesting but ultimately very frustrating release. The Canadian quartet suffers from classic symptoms of split personality disorder. That is, for every really good song, there is a corresponding clunker. They seem torn between being a spunky
power pop
group in the same vein as countrymen
Sloan
or
the Flashing Lights
and being a shuddering
rock
machine. The little sprinkles of
garage rock
and
blues
also confuse the matter. When they stick to the melodic side of their nature, they craft some winning
pop
tunes, like
"I Can't Do This By Myself,"
the percolating album opener
"The Slap,"
"Chinchilla Deluxe."
Best of all are the singsongy
"Soft Machine,"
which sounds like
the Who
if they were 15 years old in 2004 or
if they wrote really dopey lyrics, and the sticky-sweet acoustic
ballad
turned epic
"The Pearl,"
with guitarist
Colleen Hixenbaugh
providing some wonderful vocals. Why she didn't sing more on the album is a very pertinent question.
also sound strong when they drift into dreamy
indie rock
territory.
"Listen to My Angels"
is a tough but spacy drone with some fine production work, and
"Floating Away"
is a lovely
folk
-
psych
with a glittering arrangement. Unfortunately, the
Mr. Hyde
to the
band's
Dr. Jekyll
is a generic '70s bluesy
band. Tracks like
"Sweet Confusion"
"All Over It!"
sound like
Lenny Kravitz
outtakes.
"Semi White Boy"
is particularly weak, with lead singer
Jose Miguel Contreras
(who usually displays very nice, melodic vocals) aiming for manly blooz territory he has no business being in, while the band clatters along behind him like a half-hearted frat band. And really, these mild-mannered indie kids have no business trying to sound all tough and streetwise on the embarrassing
"City City."
When toting up the score, you have to take the simplistic, often dorky lyrics into account. Rhyming "tissues" with "issues," singing about the city where the girls are pretty, and claiming you have a nondairy creamer in your jeans doesn't do much to win favor with people who actually listen to the words. Luckily, the songs where the worst offenses occur are also the catchiest, so it is easy to overlook their stumbles. Harder to overlook are the plodding
tunes that really do drag the album down. What a shame, too, because the other half of the record is really quite good. If only they can find the cure for their
affliction, their next record may be something quite special. ~ Tim Sendra