Don't they know, the
speaker is about to explode?
Don't they know, this building is about to blow?
Don't they know, this building is about to blow?
Headphones don’t do it justice.
That’s the best way to sum up how I feel about “More Than
Just a Dream,” the second effort from Fitz & the Tantrums.
The album is big. It’s grand. It’s all-encompassing. It’s
consuming. It fills up the space.
So much of my music listening occurs with headphones in my
ears. Whether it’s at the gym, in my office, at home writing or taking the
Metro to and from work, I always seem to have headphones on. For some albums,
this is preferred. For this album, it is not.
When I wrote about the
Strokes’ last album, I led off by saying that I didn’t know what to make
of the record. I had to put it away for a week because it didn’t sound like
the Strokes. It didn’t sound like what I thought it would. Simply put, it
didn’t immediately grab me.
With “More Than Just a Dream,” the album knows what it is –
and thus, what it will be – from
note 1 of song 1. You know what you’re in for and it instantly grabs you.
You know the sound. You like the sound. You want more of the sound.
What has fascinated me about Fitz & the Tantrums from
the first time I heard them was their supposed throwback vibe that the media
latched onto for its debut album. At that point, the label seemed to make
sense – the first album did feel like an album from 25 years ago dressed up and
modernized for the 2010s.
This album, however, does not. While there are clearly
elements – the back & forth between the male & female leads, the brass
sections, the pounding drums, the up-tempo beats – that are taken from
different eras, they combine to form a new sound. It’s not exactly the “Sound
of the Future” that Daft Punk is endlessly striving for, but it stands out.
It’s very difficult to stand out musically in 2013 because it feels like
everything has already been done. This album, however, has not.
The best part, and why this album crawls into your
consciousness while refusing to leave, is the intensity. Fitz & the
Tantrums are a tremendous live act. On stage, they bounce around and bring
enough energy for a crowd of any size to feed off of. Many times, great live
acts fail to bring that to their records. Most famously, KISS couldn’t
translate its live show to vinyl until they actually just went ahead and
recording a live show.
On “More Than Just a Dream,” the energy never leaves. There
is urgency to the album that never stops. There are no lulls. There are no dull
moments. There is no portion where you think to yourself – well, they really
mailed this song in. Even if there are some tracks that aren’t standouts – I’m
not a big fan of #3 The Walker – they put so much heart, soul and intensity
into the track that you’re never tempted to hit skip.
The strongest part of the album is tracks 4 through 6 –
Spark, 6am and Fools Good.
Spark
is the standout track and, of course, what I quote to begin this post. It
encapsulates everything I like about Fitz and Tantrums. It’s catchy. It’s
grandiose. It explodes through the speakers – and they sing about speakers
exploding. It’s not the type of socially conscious song that critics adore.
It’s just a damn good 3-minute song that will get your foot tapping, your head
nodding and your heart bumping. And if you’re at a party, it’s the type of song
that makes you stop in mid-conversation and say, “Damn, that’s a good song.”
6am
keeps up the energy in a different light, with a quieter beat and more
significant subject matter – the loss of a lover. Only Fitz could make you
smile and air-drum along to what is actually a really, really depressing song
if you dwell on the lyrics. But you can’t because the song is so damn enjoyable
that it makes you smile – as if you know he’s depressed, he knows he’s
depressed, but it’s all good because we have this song.
The trio of perfection ends with Fools Good, another
lyrically sad song that could have gone off the rails quickly with the first
lyric, “Oh maybe I just wasn’t good enough to blow your mind, you know I’ve
tried.” In the hands of Jason Mraz or John Mayer, that lyric kicks off a
painfully pathetic song about self-loathing and failure.
In the hands of Fitz and the Tantrums, the lyrics are
depressing and longing – but spun ahead to searching for “something better for
the next time.” The positivity during the depths of despair is something we all
strive for, whether we admit to or not, and Fitz and the Tantrums delivers
every time.
In the end, that may be the album’s, and the band’s, strongest
suit. It’s happy. It puts a smile on your face. It’s an old-school band with an
old-school sound and an old-school motivation.
Fitz and the Tantrums are putting on a show. They exist to
entertain you.
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