We Are The City, "Violent" (Tooth & Nail)

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Deanna Mudry

Eclectic music for the adventurous indie

When listening to Violent, at first it‰’s all very confusing. “What am i doing here? What‰’s going on? Why is everything so choppy yet sparkly? I‰’m scared but also kind of into it?‰” We Are The City‰’s second full length album immediately brings to mind those I Spy books where there‰’s tons of buttons, ceramic dolls and model ships all together on a table for no apparent reason. That‰’s what this album is. Equal parts enchanting and puzzling.

Once you hit play, you‰’re immediately accosted by drums and xylophone that are out of time with each other, and then later joined by flighty vocals and keyboard. Where this willingness to take risks can be a little off putting at first, it helps to create fantastic soundscapes on “King David,‰” a really, and i mean really, good, dreamy, classic indie rock angst track featuring some whispers of a synth, as well as on “Punch My Face,‰” a soft-spoken piano ballad that devolves into guitar-driven white noise.

Eclectic and quirky are both adjectives that are typically kind of lazy and and aim to bring creatives down a peg, but Violent so fully exemplifies the trope of the quirky dude just mixing some jams and drinking some lattes and playing with his keyboard (see “Friends Hurt‰Û) that any other words used to describe it just wouldn‰’t do. It‰’s the one time that oft heard MySpace proverb “wow that‰’s so random XD‰” actually applies. Overall, Violent violently takes the listener out of their comfort zone and drops them into an experimental indie rock wonderland.

RIYL: Death Cab For Cutie, Dinosaur Bones, The Postal Service

Recommended Tracks: 1, 3, 6