26 July 2011
Incubus zealots looking for a S.C.I.E.N.C.E or Morning Glory regurgitation need not bother with the latest release from the Californian genre-crossers.
Returning from a five-year hiatus, frontman Brandon Boyd, recent Harvard graduate and lead guitarist Michael Einziger, bassist Ben Kenney, turntablist/pianist Chris Kilmore and drummer/new dad Jose Pasillas have offered a bold opus intent on challenging their fans. Having said that, no bold move goes comes without a bit of healthy ostracism.
If Not Now, When?, a collection of meditative ballads and beach-bummery could be perceived as a new and innovative frontier. Boyd’s pensive, interstitially-born lyrics are put at the forefront leaving the metal guitars and colossal melodies in 2006. For some fans though, the choice could suggest a coming of age in the wrong direction, where sentiment comes across sterile and soul-searching is seen as curiously dull in comparison to their earlier work.
The album opener and title track has an almost Anglo-Saxon, church mass air to it. Boyd’s soaring vocals fill you with warm fuzzies until some of the lyrics digest, “no umbrellas, no sunglasses, hallelujah”…not exactly the poetry we’ve now come to expect from the lyricist but thankfully isn’t a handsel of things to come.
Radio ready track Promises Promises is the more likable ease toward Incubus’ new sound. With roaring sugar-pop vocals and a mellifluous instrumental backing, this is to If Not Now, When? what Southern Girl was to A Crow Left Of The Murder.
Five tracks in and it’s clear Incubus could never fail at anything they set out to do, their choice to write intricate yet blatant surf-rock musings are sure to confuse some listeners with its dichotomy. Tracks like Friends and Lovers, Thieves and Defiance on one hand all have Wish You Were Here potential, but the way Boyd has decided to deliver the lyrics, like uncontrollable verbal diarrhoea sends each song falling short.
Renowned for making his listeners work to discover the meaning of his lyrics, Boyd’s biggest challenge comes with Isadore. “I won’t rest until the world knows the name Isadore,” he sings. Recognised as the gift of Isis (the Greek Goddess of motherhood), Isadore has already been met with a number of interpretations, from a simple play on words like Ana Molly (anomaly) - I adore, to a tragic love story between Erica, her unborn child Isadore and the father.
Just when you start to resent Incubus for making you use your brain, they offer funk-rock reminiscences, In The Company Of Wolves, Switchblade and first single Adolescents. Things take a darkened turn into morose, flowing guitars and crisp vocals. Switchblade hits you like a 50ml needle of adrenaline and Adolescents reminds us of the band’s funk-rock capabilities.
Closing with the track Tomorrow’s Children, Incubus end on the sound they want to be remembered for, it’s still the morbid grit we hated our parents to but laced with enough mellow to mark their departure.
If Not Now, When? will be a slow burner because it’s so tame, much like their whole career really. However, “tame” should not be read with negative aspersions as the band have purposefully sought out this new horizon. Whether this is the best horizon to return under is irrelevant now for fans need to accept the days of alt-metal are over and either commend them for taking a risk and welcome the placid return or hope for more reissues.
Read our full interview with Brandon Boyd in this week’s issue of The Music Network #846.
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