Review:

on 2012-03-06 CharlesMartel Said:

When nineties punk outfit, Jawbreaker fell apart in the middle of that decade, the vocalist, lyricist and driving force behind it, Blake Schwarzenbach, went on to form Jets to Brazil. Despite what many fans of Jawbreaker may have thought, this was never going to be Jawbreaker Mark Two. Schwarzenbach has his own distinctive voice and lyrical style and he seemed determined to exercise both in a completely different direction.

Jets to Brazil's debut album, "Orange Rhyming Dictionary" is a reference to the fact that there is no word in the English language which rhymes with orange and so such a tome, were it to exist, would be devastatingly brief. When I initially bought this album on its release, I rather wished that it had taken after the fictitious book of the title for I found it somewhat generic and, to be honest, dull. Now either it has got better with age or I have got older. In fact, both are probably true. Whereas I originally identified Jets to Brazil with a slew of other American indie rock outifts of the same decade, and therefore lumped them all rather disparagingly together, there is no doubt that, with the passage of time, "Orange Rhyming Dictionary" stands out above many of its contemporaries.

For a start, the tracks on the album are somewhat longer than your average indie track of the early to mid-nineties, clocking in between four and five minutes long. While this could, in some cases, be a signal of a band whose music drags on a bit, in the case of "Orange Rhyming Dictionary" the length allows the music to grow, to develop and to flourish as it builds. The best example of this is "I Typed for Miles", probably the best track on the album. This melancholy and somewhat self-pitying epic builds slowly, identifying and lingering long enough on the key flaws of the protagonist's situation before ending, climactically, in the yelling of the words 

"You keep fucking up my life"

And yet it not clear who is doing the real damage, the protagonist or the other. Each listener must form his or her own view.

The album, overall, has the feel of a mixture of pop, indie rock and powerpop, without any becoming predominant to the detriment of the others. Msot of the tracks are surprisingly melodic and have some great hooks. Aspects of Jawbreaker remain, such as the feeling that "Crown of the Valley" could have been an offcut from their last album. Yet together with "Resistance Is Futile" is one of the more positive (in terms of sentiment - I hesitate to use the word upbeat) and poppy songs, and is less successful for it. Schwarzenbach is better when he is not trying to ape his former band.

Indeed, Schwarzenbach is at his best when he is more morose and reflective. His lyrics are certainly the stronger under those conditions. There is an almost autobiographical feel about some of the lyrics, which hint at alienation and desperation. Yet this is no grunge album (although you could be mistaken for thinking that Nirvana were an influence). The final track is different from all the rest, a melancholy acoustic love song called "Sweet Avenue". This seems an odd way to end an album such as this on first listening but, gradually, you begin to appreciate it more with successive listens.

"Orange Rhyming Dictionary" is an album which proved to me something which is an important lesson in musical appreciation. Just because you didn't like something the first time round, doesn't mean it will never appeal to you. While we are familiar with the truth of the reverse of that axiom, it is not always apparent that something, when taken out of its original time and circumstance, and listened to under different conditions, can have an appeal altogether lacking when you first heard it. "Orange Rhyming Dictionary" taught me this lesson. There are other albums out there I might just give a second chance.
Rating: 7/10