| Before Braille Exceeds Bounds Meg Moore - The Gamecock, Columbia, SC Before Braille's "The Rumor" is not your average rock record. Then again, it also offers nothing extraordinary. Striking that evasive chord between over-done and over-zealous, "The Rumor" maintains an intriguing level of music innovation while holding onto its straight-up rock soul. With titles such as "Paranoia Pays Off" and "Low End of Luxury," the album's song line-up seethes with pretension. It opens with the brooding, four-and-a-half-minute "Prelude: Secret No. 1"---- a veritable instrumental, save the last 45 seconds when vocals are finally filtered in. But instead of inundating itself with the avant-garde, Before Braille tactfully combines a progressive sound with distorted, upbeat guitar lines, ensnaring both rock fans and tortured artists. But the band relies heavily on harmonies-- a rarity in the rock world-- often infusing at times with multiple vocal lines. On tracks such as "The Spanish Dagger," the words almost bleed into the music, amplified to the same level as the guitars in a carefully constructed chorus of sound. Rapid, often-complex drumming backs a majority of the songs on "The Rumor," yet the tracks range from ethereal to explosive. "Split Lip Envy" sounds like Dashboard Confessional's acoustic rock, while "Paranoia Pays Off" rocks out. At times, the band references the straight-ahead style of punk-pop, but at others the album seethes with prog-tinged instrumentals. This duality allows "The Rumor" to swim where a less-intricate album would flounder-- it fits into a mold, yet exceeds its bounds. Offering listeners as an assembly of innovative but ear-friendly songs, Before Braille has produced a textures collection of solid tunes. Mixing the sparse with the intricately structured, the expected with the inventive, "The Rumor" reaches more than one realm of music listeners amid a single, 15-song soundscape. Before Braille will play April 30 at Senate Park. Back to the Press page |