In true DIY fashion, L.A. quartet Division Day, records there debut LP Beartrap Island entirely in analog over 22 days, and release said album, unencumbered by corporate label expectations; it doesn’t get any more Indie than that folks. Now, I realize that using an acronym such as DIY conjures up images of thrash-core punk bands, playing severely out of tune guitars on blown out speakers, but Division Day’s guitar work, while jangly at times, is quite harmonious. Also, do not let the fact that they hail from LA fool you. Sure, DD has played in the same venues as Earlimart, Giant Drag, and Silversun Pickups, but it would be unreasonable to considered them part of the … dare I say it… Hip LA Silverlake shoegazer scene. The point I am trying to make is that DD is a band that defies classification. They are not a part of any particular scene, movement or even signed on a major label that would purvey such ideals. They are just four dudes that enjoy singing chirpy melodies about nature, the changing seasons, blood and murder.
Yes, you heard me right, REDRUM …REDRUM…the lyrical content found within BTI reads like an unpublished Stephen King novel, or better yet, some obscure Edgar Allen Poe poem. Somebody is going to be murdered here, but who exactly? Will they possibly drown, perhaps during low tide? There are encounters with little kids with insects all up in their mouth- “Beartrap Island.” “Sparrows swarming” and “fluttering down the chimney”- “Land to the Sound,” and somebody fashioning “threadcount tourniquets for pale imposter bedmate necks”- “Colorguard.” It’s all quite chilling and uniquely gratifying, and as a whole, comes together as a macabre concept album of sorts. If this were indeed a novel, it would be a great murder mystery, a definite summer read.
DD members- Rohner Segnitz vocals and keyboards /Seb Bailey on bass and second guitar/ Kevin Lenhart on drums/ Ryan Wilson on lead guitar, conversely match these spooky thematic undertakings with jovial, light- hearted melodies and gleeful keyboards. I’ll be honest though, Beartrap Island, is not immediately catchy, there are a few dense moments. Before BTI, the only contact I had with DD’s material was “Bad Black Moon,” off their EP The Mean Way In, which I found to be a dancy, off-kilter post- punk number, in the vein of The Double. However, Beartrap Island is an entirely different animal.
The most ear friendly tunes on BTI are “Lights Out” with its soothing, beautifully layered guitar and brooding keyboards, reminiscent of Phoenix (the Frenchy Band), “Cologuard” a bouncy, mellow crooner that will have you singing “Are you a murder, friend?” outloud, and “Tap-Tap, Click Click” a thumping, distorted and cathartic rocker ala Walkmen.
There are a few more experimental moments too, i.e., “To the Woods” which sounds like a quirky, modern day Replacements tune and “Tigers”; Picture if you will, a disturbed Sufjan Stevens singing this phrase- “I want to pour your blood inside my head/ I send this overture to the living dead” I was also stumped by the final track, “Is It True What They Say’, because the vocals are identical to Mr. Bright Eyes, so indistinguishable in fact, that I thought that Oberst had made a cameo, but I could not find his name anywhere on the sleeve. Hmmm, yet another mystery hidden with the confines of Beartrap Island.
When it is all said and done, BTI’s Horror Dream Pop is distinctive enough to warrant repeated listens. This is one of those albums that will grow on you, if you give it a chance. I can honestly say, with conviction, that Beartrap Island is one of the most superb self-released offerings to come out this year. I have to agree with the bloggers on this one, I too will cast my ballot for Division Day, as the top unsigned band in America. |