Album Review

Brand New – Daisy

• 14th Oct 2009

Brand New always looked like having more about them than their position as emo favourites in the early noughties suggested. 2003’s sophomore effort Deja Entendu saw Jesse Lacey push in more ambitious directions and introduce intellectual aspirations to his promising songwriting ability, and since then the five-piece have been making complex, challenging alt rock that’s seen them escape the undertow of the emo craze that saw them first come to prominence.

This fourth studio outing starts intriguingly enough with a haunting intro track colliding into the no-prisoners assault of ‘Vices’, a quick, cacophonic foray that sees Lacey opt for out-and-out screaming and throws up some exhilarating riffs. From then onwards, Daisy is a gripping listen, alternating between explosive moments like the opener and brilliantly brooding numbers like ‘Bed’ and ‘You Stole’ where the frontman’s vocals drip menacingly with pent-up angst.

‘At the bottom’ boasts the most instantly gratifying chorus of the lot so makes sense as the first single choice and serves as a thrilling exercise in the quiet/loud approach that the band have mastered and come to be synonymous with over previous releases. ‘Sink’ is another great song in this vein, but the band have ambitions beyond writing catchy mini-anthems – an ambition exemplified best perhaps by the experimental voice-distortion/acoustic guitar weirdness of ‘Be Gone’, coming over all late-period Tom Waits.

Brand New sound every bit the form band of the moment and you’d be pressed to find too many rock albums this year more accomplished and compelling than this one.