CMJ New Music Report Spotlight

Brad Filicky, CMJ

There must be something in the water in Mesa, Arizona. The same town that gave us Jimmy Eat World has now given us Before Braille, a band that specializes in the heartbreaking lyrics delivered passionately over a syncopated but poppy guitar crunch that has come to define the term "emo." And everybody knows that emo is the music du jour for sensitive punk boys and girls right now, but if emo goes out of style, Before Braille will likely still be rocking shows long after most of the Chris Carraba wannabes have left the building. The reason? For one, the band has some killer musical chops and aren't afraid to use them to get its point across. And two, the songs are the right balance of Fugazi obliqueness and Cheap Trick power-pop. "A Cinema Spine" is sure to be a fist-in-the-air anthem at the band's live shows and "Jaws Of Life" is a tune that may just make the ladies cry. Hey, we all need a good cry now and then, don't we?

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