{"id":6723,"date":"2011-04-26T07:25:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T12:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bostonsurvivalguide.net\/wordpress\/?p=6723"},"modified":"2024-03-04T12:00:50","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:00:50","slug":"the-airborne-toxic-event-all-at-once","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bostonsurvivalguide.net\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/the-airborne-toxic-event-all-at-once\/","title":{"rendered":"The Airborne Toxic Event: All At Once"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"<\/p>\n

The Airborne Toxic Event: All At Once – Out Today!
\nSee the band live at the House of Blues, Wednesday, May 11 – buy tickets<\/a>
\n~ For the abridged version of this article, please see Ryan’s Smashing Life<\/a> ~<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing Pains<\/h4>\n

My god, this is excruciating! I\u2019ve been enjoying The Airborne Toxic Event since first listening to demo tracks in 2008, and followed their steady ascent, which for me began at a downtown Boston Irish bar for about 150 people. They released their wonderful debut album on Majordomo, and proceeded to tour for the next 2-1\/2 years in support of it. That album grabbed hold of my ears and wouldn\u2019t let go, yet I now find myself approaching their follow-up, nearly three years later, with a curious mix of anticipation and trepidation. Why? Because in that time, they signed with Island Records, amassed a large audience of \u201ccasual listeners\u201d with their radio hit, \u201cSometime Around Midnight,\u201d and spent 2010 in a fancy Hollywood studio with world-renown producer Dave Sardi (Band of Horses, The Walkmen, Oasis). It made me a little nervous. This is the first time I stumbled upon a band early on, and not 10 years after everyone else, so I\u2019m new to this whole \u201cgrappling with success\u201d thing. I\u2019m not sure how the band is coping, but as for myself, not terribly well. <\/p>\n

Perceptions<\/h4>\n

Airborne Tox, for some reason, has managed to divide opinion into two polar opposite camps: worshiping followers, and poisonous venom spewers. At the center of this maelstrom is one extremely talented and ridiculously hard-working group of people making what I consider some damn compelling music. A number of people have gotten something stuck in their teeth about this band that they can\u2019t get out. Perhaps they\u2019re disturbed by Airborne\u2019s success story, believing it all came too easily. After a year in a friend\u2019s home studio crafting their debut, 350 gigs to promote it, and then straight into another year recording this one, the band might beg to differ. The major label involvement, heavy radio airplay, and an army of mainstream fans may be off-putting. Or they\u2019re uncomfortable with the unapologetic sentimentality and romanticism of the band\u2019s lead singer and songwriter, Mikel Jollett, who once said that a writer can\u2019t be concerned with how they look while baring their soul to tell a story. Whatever it is, a quick glance at what they\u2019ve been doing lately should convince any doubters that this band is the real thing.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Airborne 2.0<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s been some remarkable growth for these guys. Everyone\u2019s musical proficiency and performance skill has improved 1,000 times over, not just how well they play together, but individually. Mikel has become a better songwriter \u2014 lyrically, and with melody and construction. Musical arrangements are far more complex and intricate. This is a band that obviously spends a lot of time crafting a song, and it shows. All I can hope for as a fan is that they stay true to their core principles throughout this mad journey, and that they can maintain their identity in the raging sea of mediocrity that surrounds them.<\/p>\n

Inside All At Once<\/h4>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

This is one serious second album. The band spent a year writing, arranging and recording; learning about songwriting techniques and big studio production from Dave Sardi, and whittling down 50 songs to eleven. Heady times, with heady themes to match. The sound is huge and dense as a thicket, and while their first album had playful and jovial moments, this one rarely does. The quieter ballads have a sad, wistful quality; the upbeat pop tunes, a distinct edginess. It\u2019s not easy listening, but it\u2019s deeply rewarding if you spend some time with it. One thing which first struck me was how well music and melody fits the lyrics, each giving something back to the other. Airborne also reinforces their standing as a \u201cgenre-free\u201d band, with different moods and treatments for each song\u2019s personality.<\/p>\n

The first album had themes of alienation, though it mostly dealt with the aftermath of a bad break-up. On this one, it\u2019s still very much a personal story, yet it reaches beyond the emotions of the storyteller, touching upon such topics as life and death, love and war, and how sudden change alters our lives and affects our world view. For Mikel, it came through the loss of four family members in a few years\u2019 time, and grappling with the joys and horrors of a new life on the road. Interspersed are thoughts about soldiers and the hypocrisies and travesties of war (\u201cThe Kids Are Ready To Die,\u201d \u201cWelcome To Your Wedding Day\u201d), youthful innocence and a questioning of faith (\u201cIt Doesn\u2019t Mean A Thing\u201d), and a sentimental love song (\u201cThe Graveyard Near The House\u201d). There are thoughts of that lost relationship, yet this time it\u2019s viewed from an insightful distance (\u201cAll For A Woman\u201d). Bringing to life this dizzying array of stories and emotions is an arsenal of melodic hooks and furiously driving rhythm, classical string arrangements and synth lines, and ethereal viola and vocal accompaniment from Anna Bulbrook. A hell of a lot for one album.<\/p>\n

They stretch the boundaries of dynamic range, both in sound and message. There are huge, epic productions for \u201cAll At Once\u201d and \u201cWelcome To Your Wedding Day,\u201d but also quieter, more intimate moments for \u201cAll For A Woman,\u201d \u201cStrange Girl,\u201d and \u201cThe Graveyard Near The House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

From the beginning, you know that All At Once is going to be a major departure from what you thought you knew about this band. The title track is an epic masterpiece about the stages of life, from birth to death, and sudden, perception-altering change. The song is enormous in scope, in its message and execution, and features the Calder Quartet, who are also on \u201cAll For A Woman\u201d and \u201cAll I Ever Wanted\u201d (\u201cThen we long to be loved, in the rush we become some things we thought we\u2019d never be. \/ We were surprised by our heart, left wary and scarred, from the nights spent feeling incomplete. \/ And all those evenings swearing at the sky, wishing for more time.\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cAll For A Woman\u201d is an unabashedly romantic ballad which slowly builds into a heart-swelling, soaring eagle of a song as Mikel contemplates \u201cthe muse that inspired the art\u201d (\u201cIt was all, it was all, for the look in her eyes \/ for the promise, and the lie, of a woman.\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Doesn\u2019t Mean a Thing\u201d is a sweet, heartfelt rockabilly-folk tune for Mikel\u2019s hippie parents, in their youthful innocence, trying to understand life\u2019s mysteries and injustices. – \u201cit was a loneliness they would confess, like the world had gone bad I guess, so they\u2019d hold hands, look into the eyes of God \/ they\u2019d say, \u2018tell me why\u2019d you hide from us, why\u2019d you fill this world with wickedness, why\u2019d you spare us from your grace but not the rod?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Kids Are Ready To Die,\u201d Mikel examines the making of a soldier, how society exploits a young person\u2019s pent-up anger and restlessness for the purpose of warfare, turning inner rage outward, and addresses the repercussions – \u201cBut the day will come when it falls like a cheap house of plastic \/ and the cards that were dealt will be tossed like a storm in the sky \/ \u2018cause you can only lie for so long before you get something drastic \/ and the kids are lined up on the wall, and they\u2019re ready to die.\u201d This song, slowed down from its original fast-paced punk tempo to a somber funeral dirge, carries enormous gravitas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Confrontational and explosive, \u201cWelcome To Your Wedding Day\u201d has an exotic feel with a punk rock aesthetic strongly reminiscent of The Clash. It recalls the news story of a predator drone accidentally hitting an Afghan wedding, and points out the hypocrisy of U.S. words and actions, combining a Middle Eastern melody with a war march of American aggression and bravado \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s another fine day of nation building \/ Let\u2019s have a parade \/ You can dance on the graves and the bones of the children \/ If you know what to say.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I Ever Wanted\u201d (with the Calder Quartet) reprises their beautiful arrangement of this lovely song, first heard at their 2009 Disney Hall performance, in all its orchestral, sweeping grandeur.<\/p>\n

For all the chaotic fury that begins All At Once, the album closes with the quiet fragility of \u201cThe Graveyard Near the House,” about sharing one\u2019s life and growing old with someone, fears of loss, commitment, and disconnection (\u201cAnd it left me to wonder if people ever know each other, or just stumble around like strangers in the dark. ‘Cause sometimes you seem so strange to me, I must seem strange to you. We’re like two actors playing our parts.\u201d). A perfect marriage of music and lyrics, it features Mikel on acoustic guitar and soft vocals, with Anna\u2019s beautiful harmony, a simple piano melody and viola adding an emotional layer at the end. It\u2019s a beautiful close to an amazing achievement.<\/p>\n

\"Daren,

Daren, Mikel & Noah at the House of Blues, Boston, October 13, 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

My key criticism of this album is with the production. The trick, now that they have access to a professional studio and a full array of technology, is to know when not to use it. That cavernous big studio sound and liberal use of reverb gives the music an austere feel, and makes the band sound like they\u2019re a great distance away. Sonically, it\u2019s like being at the back of a giant hall, and perhaps it\u2019s to prepare us purists for that very experience, though it\u2019s not one I look forward to. Their performance is passionate; the music is 1,000 times more powerful. But as a fan, I no longer feel like they\u2019re playing in my living room, and that saddens me. The addition of synthesizers gives the album a distinctly \u201880s feel, and while I\u2019m a fan of those days, it contributes to the austerity. Everything seems a little too perfect, too polished. Playing so much in the past three years, I expect them to sound tight and accomplished, but this is different. For stark contrast, check out their \u201cBombastic Series\u201d<\/a> – acoustic, one-shot, one take video clips for each song.<\/p>\n