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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > December > 01 > Entry
CD review: The Bravery - ‘Stir the Blood’
The Bravery
‘Stir the Blood’
(Island Records)
Grade: C
You could call “Stir the Blood” a study of contrasts.
On the one hand, frontman-songwriter Sam Endicott is angry. You can hear it in every jagged riff, every angsty yowl, even in the gore-evoking album title. And there are only so many ways to interpret a song called “Hate(expletive).” There’s a pretty good chance he wants to shower some physical violence on someone. Possibly you.
But we can assume he at least wants you to have some fun while he does it, because “Stir the Blood” is also a return to upbeat form for this New York post-punk new wave band after a disappointing second album “The Sun and the Moon.” It has an almost pathological need to be danceable in its instrumentation, with the speedy, steady beat on “Red Hands and White Knuckles” adding a rollicking, catchy pulse to a fundamentally violent, ugly tune. It’s that disconnect between the high-school pleading, for instance, of “I Am Your Skin” with its techno-influenced head-bopping time signature that keeps “Stir the Blood” somewhat lively. There’s something naturally fascinating about cognitive dissonance, and it doesn’t come much more dissonant than dancing to “Slow Poison,” with its focus on the bitter sting of heartbreak.
The Bravery never quite dodges the problem that’s dogged the band since its self-titled debut — namely, that “Stir the Blood” starts to sound awfully monotonous after 11 songs. And you’d have to be very young, very immature or very unfortunate to relate much to this level of focused brooding. But those who enjoyed the Bravery’s driven dance sound on the debut will be pleased by “Stir the Blood,” and it’s hard to condemn an album as too dark when it has the good sense to rock while doing it.
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