Glasvegas Release New Album: Later...When The TV Turns To Static

Scottish band Glasvegas have released their third album. It's a 10 song set titled Later...When the TV Turns to Static. I've been listening to it now for a week or so, and below is a review. You can see my previous reviews of their Glasvegas and Euphoric Heartbreak albums.

Lets start with the album name as Glasvegas main man James Allan puts a lot of thought into song and album titles. The name references a time gone by and hour of the night that used to be very solitary for anyone up all night and alone. That's right, at one time people, there were only a handful of channels on TV and at about midnight most or all of them went off the air. Yep. No programing overnight. Just static. But more than referencing the past, with the title I think Allan is trying to use nostalgia or remembrance of a now-gone nightly event to make a point  about human emotion. Specifically, that moment when the TV goes off (or did) and you were left alone, in the dark with your thoughts with only the blank canvas of the TV static to stare at and project our feelings. That's my take on it. I remember those times.

Album cover of Later...When the TV Turns to Static

Taken as a whole, this album is a serious affair with themes and music that for the most part make you think rather than tap your toe. Allan is one of the more gifted lyricists going these days in my opinion, and on this new album he is plumbing the depths of his ideas. This ends up meaning that Later... is the type of album you'd listen to loudly on your home stereo by yourself after dark with your drink of choice in hand instead of bopping along to in your convertible on a sunny road trip.

Don't get me wrong, each song has something musically interesting about it, but as an entire body of work I think it's honest to say that this is an alternative music album and not at pop rock album. Don't expect Fallout Boy, Muse or My Chemical Romance here. And this is great to me. In fact, this is one thing I like best about Glasvegas. The world is full of standard issue pop rock bands, but this group works its guts out to give you something more to ponder...and yes, it turns out there are a couple toe tappers anyway.

Here are the songs on the disc with some comments from me...

Later...When the TV Turns to Static. "Only I can turn things the other way." The album opener is a return to unusual or alternative themes for songs that Glasvegas explored on their debut a few years ago. Instead of a song about love, a girl (or boy) or what have you, this one is best I can tell about a guy in prison reflecting on what it is like to be locked up and what his hopes are behind those "prison fences and defenses" as he thinks about what must be going on back on his home street and house. Or is he actually now out of prison and back up on the edge of his bed "up in the attic?" Either way, the point is made. The loneliness of isolation and the hope of overcoming a tragedy or major life mistake are well communicated - whether behind prison walls or freshly released but equally sequestered in a dark attic. And yeah, the image of that late night time when the TV goes to static does evoke the feeling well.

As for the music, this is an atmospheric mid-paced song that has a solid wall of guitar from Rab Allan raging below the surface and punctuated with occasional feedback and noise as James Allan's voice soars over the top. Binding it together are the steady bass and drum work by Paul Donoghue and Jonna Lofgren respectiviely. This is a solid start to the album and a "grower" song that you will like more and more as you listen to it.

Youngblood. "Off the edge of the cliff goes the vehicle carrying something happy." Starting with some electronic noises and guitar squeal, this one is a spikier tune right off the bat as a thudding bass and sharp drums join quickly. Over the course of the song, the music builds and builds so that by the end this one is in full loud rocking mode before tapering back to the electric noises that began the tune. The subject of the song seems to be about a young love just finished and the hurt that goes with the separation - realizing that while the hurt is real, it's also "part of growing up." The "youngblood" reference seems to be the other person in the now-defunct relationship, recognizing that this person will probably love and leave again.

Glasvegas Publicity Picture

Choices. "I don't want to be told, but independence is hard to hold." OK, this song is a downer. To me. Well done, but a downer. Why? Well, this song is about how someone is at the end of their rope in virtually all aspects of their life and the fact that they still have "choices" - implied possibly as either killing themselves or perhaps some other (hopefully more positive) changes. No matter which way you go on that, it's a pretty depressing lyric. Combine that with the slow, sparse music and vocal delivery and, well, lets just say this ain't "Fun, Fun, Fun" by the Beach Boys. Probably not one I'll listen to very often.

All I Want Is My Baby. "It's all about the money, money, money." Normally you would think a song about "wanting my baby" would be about someone desiring their lover. But this is Glasvegas, so it is about wanting custody of a daughter from an abusive and bad-behaving former lover. Yep, "all I want is my baby." Literally. In the song, the voice exoriates a former partner for her hypocrisy, for the embarrassment she's putting him through and asks if she has ever heard of karma. It also seems that paying off the woman is maybe something she has suggested as a way of seeing the daughter again.

Meantime, this is back to the mid-paced tempo of the first couple songs after the downturn with "Choices."

Secret Truth. If "Choices" was depressing, then "Secret Truth" is haunting. Musically, this one's more up tempo and follows "All I Want Is My Baby" well. This is a lament about a relationship lost, and it seems to be saying that even though the singer instigated the breakup, he wishes they had not. That's the secret truth. Or I suppose you could take it the other way and the secret truth is that while the breakup was painful it was perhaps all for the best. Either way, it makes you think about the decisions you make in life and what the real truths are behind those decisions. We may display our motivations publicly, but we also may have - and often do have - "secret" truths around what we do.

I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be With You). "You showed me what this world can do." The title of this song is right up there with Glasvegas' early Christmas album song called "F*^%k You, It's Over" as brutally honest and clear song title.

A piano driven song without much other instrumentation, the title of this one says it all. Someone has been done horribly wrong by a lover and is not happy about it. Someday - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon - the guilt and the consequences of other person's actions are going to be real. Does this mean the protagonist is going to attack the other person, harm themselves or simply that a heap load of negative karma is going to catch up to the other person? Who knows. But, remember, he'd rather be dead than be with her.

Magazine. "How could I not see that what I was looking for was inside of me already." This is an

Glasvegas on stage

interesting one, and pretty straight forward. The first half of the song is a bout someone who is empty, does not like themselves and searching for answers of all different kinds...and finds what appears to be those answers in the form of a famous person on the cover of a magazine. An image, an attitude to emulate. Trying to be like that hero in the magazine appears to be the way to fill up his spirit and provide an identity. But then, halfway into the tune, the protagonist suddenly realizes how shallow that really is...that the only way to really be happy is to be ones self, love ones self and realize what he's looking for is already inside him - not in a magazine, not in religion or in the approval of others. He puts the magazine on the shelf and gets on with life.

The music matches this more upbeat message and "Magazine" is indeed one of the more accessible tunes on the album. Thumbs up.

If. "If our love was ever to part ways, the world as I know it would never ever spin again." Musically and lyrically, this is full on Glasvegas in all their glory and the star of this album. Get it. It's also clearly the most poppy, commercial song on the album. Hear the song and see the video HERE (short ad in front of the video).

The binary premise of the song is that without one extreme, how would we even know the opposite extreme existed. If not for this, we wouldn't have that. It takes one side of things to truly know the other - making both real. For example, in one line James Allan sings, "If not for dark, how could I recognize the spark. If not for evil, the kind man would walk by invisible."

Much of the rest of the song uses the same juxtaposition of things (sun/rain, Mary/the devil, etc.) to make the point, culminating several times with the crescendo chorus that if "our love would ever part ways" the world would surely end - simultaneously implying that a love shared and active keeps the world turning. For anyone who is or ever has been in love - either short term lust and longing or lifelong love - this is the ultimate and personal payoff on the "if" theme of the song and for that it packs a powerful emotion punch.

Mid-way through, the song re-trenches with what I'd call a tip o' the hat to the Talking Heads using a wordplay on that group's song "Road to Nowhere" - flipping it on its head to be on the more positive "road to somewhere." It then seamlessly picks back up into the main riff and finishes.

Musically, I'd call this a mid-paced rock song featuring Rab Allan's shimmery guitar and "oooh, ahhh" backing vocals, a galloping drum beat from Joanna Lofgren to move things along and solid bass work from Paul Donoghue. I'd compare it to earlier Glasvegas songs such as "Geraldine" or "The World Is Yours" - both excellent tunes.

Neon Bedroom. "Between your four walls, I picture myself there soon." This song is about a young student who has an anonymous infatuation with an older person. The student goes so far as regularly walking past the older person's house after dark and seeing the TV flicking - casting a shadow of the person and making them wonder what it's like inside that house and how they'd like to be there with this older person. Teenage fascination and desire.

And, up and until about 3/4 the way through the song you think this must be a young teenage guy lusting and longing for a slightly older woman. This is easy to understand certainly because of Allan's male voice. But then he sings out, "I'll be a woman soon." So...the character is a girl, not a boy. Is the focus of her attention and older guy? A woman? We don't know. And that's probably by design. What's left is clear though...this young person is aching for her adult future and, in this moment, hoping it's with this person on her street.

This is not the only time Allan has used his straight, male voice to tell the story of others not like him. Two songs on their previous album, Euphoric Heartbreak, communicate feelings from the perspective of a closeted gay man. And on their debut album, Allan voices "I am Geraldine, I'm your social worker." I like this. It's bold. It opens up many stories to tell and feelings to express for Glasvegas that would not be possible by creating songs strictly from the straight, white, male perspective. 

Finished Sympathy. "Sick to death of the means to an end." I think this one is about the final, crushing realization that something - a relationship or perhaps innocence - is over. Done and dusted. There is no longer even sympathy from those involved, just...the finished finality of things. Over. And it hurts at least one party as expressed by the singing voice of James Allan with backing voice provided by Rab Allan.

Previously released as a sparse demo on the band's If EP earlier this year, the song appears here with more fireworks. I like the change. It takes the song from being primarily a piano ballad to a song drenched in guitar sounds and a number of musical and vocal crescendos that punctuate the theme of the song and keeps it moving along nicely.

WHAT TO GET

• Download now - If, Magazine, Later...When the TV Turns to Static, Youngblood, Finished Sypathy
• Want more? Try these - All I Want is My Baby, Neon Bedroom

ALSO

Glasvegas has three albums out now, along with a Christmas EP. Below is a 15 song set of what I would consider the best songs from those releases. If inclined, you could put these together for a great "album" of music. All are available on iTunes:

1. Geraldine
2. Go Square Go
3. It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
4. Daddy's Gone
5. Flowers and Football Tops
6. Euphoric Heartbreak
7. Lots Sometimes
8. Dream Dream Dreaming
9. The World Is Yours
10. Whatever Hurts You Through the Night
11. Cruel Moon
12. A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss)
13. If
14. Magazine
15. Finished Sympathy

Mona Releases Second Album - Torches & Pitchforks

Nashville based band Mona is a group I've been keeping my eyes and ears on over the last year or two. Why? Well, they are new outfit that seems to capture what I think is great about rock and roll - rebellion, style, energy, commitment and above all...great tunes. Turns out, you CAN still get great music from a bass, drum kit, two guitars and a lot of conviction.

I've seen Mona twice in Seattle and once in New York City, and each time these guys don't disappoint. And, they are approachable off stage as I was fortunate enough to meet each member of the band at some point at one of the shows I attended. Good guys.

Torches & Pitchforks Album Cover

In any case, they just released their second album titled Torches & Pitchforks. That's right, as in the villagers out en mass at night to find and kill the village monster - holding aloft sharp pitchforks and flaming torches as they march forward on their mission. So which is Mona, the enraged villagers or the monster?  Maybe a bit of both. Or, perhaps when you listen to this album about standing your ground, reaching for the stars, the sadness of depleted or lost love (or lost opportunity), the excitement of lust and seeking truth in life....they are neither, but rather the energy, spirit or mania that fuels both righteous mob or cornered monster.

You can decide for yourself by listening to their album. If it helps, below are my thoughts on the songs - which Mona have arranged in three parts with interesting interlude sections in between.

REVIEW

Intro. "From the depths of the Earth." This is first of three "interlude" pieces that divide Torches & Pitchforks into three parts. And, it's actually not a song sung by Mona. Rather, it's an excerpt from an old-timey gospel piece, complete with scratchy record sound, called "Born to Serve the Lord" and performed by The Chapel Keys. I like it. Mona definitely plumbs nostalgia in its lyrics and style and has toyed with the salvation and hypocrisies of religion. So, it's a fitting intro to set the stage for what is to come.

Wasted. "Do you believe in God? No, but I still pray." The title and subject of this song plays with a double meanings of "wasted." On one hand, the lyrics suggest a drug addict and his girl trying to come to grips with their situation, seek salvation and then resigning themselves to the fact that, well, it's too late already...full speed ahead! But on the other hand, it suggests two people "wasting" their lives in dead end situations...seeking something bigger and more exciting and ultimately not being afraid to take a big leap to get out, to avoid ultimately wasting away. Or at least that's my interpretation.

Musically, this one kicks off the album proper with a good, fitting rock song Mona style. Nick Brown's powerful, soulful voice sings out and howls over a driving and rumbling accompaniment though the intro, crescendo, breakdown and back to a powerful ending. While this song is perhaps a bit "Mona by the numbers," the song kicks off the album with a burst of energy. It does the trick for me.


2013 Publicity Photo of Mona, main man Nick Brown in middle

Truth. "Oh the nine to five, got you weary souled." A baseline from Zach Lindsey starts this one off with a piano joining next, then a guitar, a deliberately paced drum, lead guitar and ultimately the singing voice to build into a song that's shows some diversity of style for the band. Best I can tell, this one talks about someone who is fed up with the fake and superficial trappings of life, but who is also partnered with someone who is either unaware of the shallowness of those things or indulges in them out of fear. The singer is seeking "truth," but is weighed down by someone who is not or cannot. And what does that ultimately mean? Seems like by the end of the song, the main character has decided to go it alone, with "nothing now" - which is liberating, but also raises the question of "who am I?"

Darlin'. "Don't leave me darlin'." That pretty much summarizes the theme of this song - don't leave me baby! Is it just for the night or forever? Could be either. In any case, this is a stand-out track to me. A jaunty guitar line starts this one out with drums and a second guitar kicking it up a notch as the song moves quickly into almost throw back rockabilly vibe...all of which morphs into more of a rock presentation a la The Strokes and finally ends on a much slower and isolated lament...closing with, "I came here to see you, but you walked out the door." This is a bit of a change up for Mona and for that I like it. The tune sticks in your head and, well, the message is universal. We've all been there at one point or another.

Goons. "Baby I need it all." This is the rebellious first single from the album and has been out for a while now. The title is a take on something Frank Sinatra said when he was asked about the initial wave of rock and roll back in the 1950s. He said in part, "It's sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons." Mona seem to be taunting The Chairman of the Board by saying, "Hell yeah...you're right. We ARE those goons...and we want it all!"

Freeway. "I don't want to be the one that leaves." Lyrically, this one is nothing particularly new - perhaps a deeper version of the previous song, Darlin'. Basically, its a guy saying he and his girl have been through a lot and perhaps the end is near, but none the less he does not want to be the one to end things. Musically though, the song is compelling and pulls a the heart strings with a soulful delivery by Brown and thoughtful, moving music to go with it.

Interlude (Don't Cry). "Everyone's on the dash, trying to get it and pile up all the cash, baby it won't last...that's not the way it seems to be with me." This second short buffer segment is Mona this time and introduces what I think is the best third of this album. On this short segment, Nick Brown sings to a ukulele accompaniment and nice breezy backing vocals from the rest of the guys on this pleasantly subdued little track. What's he singing about? A guy who is rejecting the normal pursuits in life and telling his girl not to cry too much about it. I think.

Torches & Pitchforks. "Say what you need to say, you gotta get it right." OK, now we're really talking. This one is the best on the album in my book. Up to now we've had some good songs that are fun to listen to or make you think a little with Darlin' being the highlight to me. But with T&P the band steps up their game and shifts up a gear or two - full Mona style. Baby we got it all: heartfelt delivery by Nick Brown, epic and catchy music, soulful background singers and a theme about facing your fears instead of running - saying what you need to say, doing what you need to do in the face of whatever "torches and pitchforks" are coming your way. A+ work.

Mona on stage in Seattle. Photo taken by Marc Osborn.

Like You Do. "Everybody talks and nobody listens." This is strong musically - catchy and even has a few flashes of synth on it - but lyrically we're back to holding on to precarious love and what may need to change - a theme now done a couple times already on the album. However, I like this one quite well and taking it together with the other songs in this section of the album, it fits nicely.

Cross the Line. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but as you're talking I feel my hand turning into a fist." More good stuff! Mona jump into scrappy, greasy, "don't mess with me" territory on this song. Guitar riffing with a piano and driving drum beat kick this song off on a promising note and it turns out...yep, kick ass song. "Back the F*#%K off. What's mine is mine and you are not going to take it, man." That's the message on this noisy, straining song. Dead serious lyrical delivery exploding into a ripping chorus by Brown leaves you convinced he ain't fooling around.

Me Under. "I'm going everything but nice and slow." At times I hear a bit of U2 in Mona, and this song is like that to me. And it's good. It's an expansive tune that starts off with a racing spare guitar and builds quickly into a song that is, best I can tell, about coming of age and a guy who wants to...needs too...feel unconstrained, unencumbered to lash out at (or embrace) all that the world has to offer. And he does not want anyone dragging him under. He wants to go down to the river to wash himself clean of his burdens and go forward from there - at full speed. I rate this song as right up there as best on the album. Strong work from the band.

Interlude (Waiter). "Tell me, waiter...did you get that girl's name?" This is the third interlude bit on the album. It's pretty short and too the point: Hey, I just met (or saw) a girl that amazed me, but I didn't get her name. Anyone know who she is?

Late Night. "It's gonna be a late night she said." This is a song about a girl who is, unfortunately, driven to sell her body for money and the tragedy that this is...the girl knowing she should be somewhere else, doing something (anything) else than her sad realization of what she has to do to pay her bills. In only one line in the song, there is the implication that there is someone outside of this Hell that she wants to "stay near," but that is the only lifeline of hope...the rest is the solid truth that she is stuck in her situation with no seeming way out.

Sounds bleak. And yeah, that's bleak stuff. But, Mona deliver this message in a touching song that messages sympathy for the girl.

L.L.L. This song picks up the anti-conformity sentiment of "Torches & Pitchforks," "Truth" and "Cross the Line" from earlier in the album. It also is another song that has some U2ish elements. With the up-tempo music and rapid and righteous delivery from Brown about "living like lovers" and fighting the good fight, I like this one. But, it isn't quite up to par with those other "I fought the law" songs on this album already. Good, not great.

Love Divine. "Even when it's fair, life's not fair." At almost seven minutes, this is easily the longest song on the album. It's an ambitious affair with piano, synths and a few change ups in pace from slow and quite to loud and rage-y - all centered around mid-tempo backbone. The theme of the song seems to be about pushing past life's pains and traumas to find something real...but honestly the lyrics are all over the place, ending with Brown exalting that "you will find me down on my knees" as the sound of the album fades out over the same crackley record sound it began on.

WHAT TO GET
I'm usually in the camp of getting an entire album by an artist, and I'd recommend that for Torches & Pitchforks too. But, in case you just want to sample a few songs to see if you like Mona, below are some recommendations.

Download Now:

• Torches & Pitchforks
• Me Under
• Cross the Line
• Darlin'

Want more? Get These:

• Like You Do
• Freeway
• Late Night