ARTSETC.
1st ever DVD album overshadows music
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by Marta Dehmlow
Monday, October 3, 2005
In a world of Mp3s and iPods, The Sun had to distinguish itself on its first full-length album, Blame It On the Youth. The band decided to make an album available only as a DVD, becoming the first band ever to do so. Each song has a music video, artistic renditions far superior to what is on MTV these days.
However, what could have been an interesting idea becomes distracting. The Sun is an intriguing band with a unique sound that should speak for itself.
The music is a garage-rock revival: more indie than the Clash, more hardcore than the New Pornographers and cleaner than the Strokes. The sound is not imitative, but it is a combination that is catchy without being too poppy, and punky without being too harsh.
The Columbus, Ohio, band's sound is completed by lead singer Chris Burney's off-kilter warble, in the vein of Ben Kweller, Lou Reed and Carl Newman. He looks like a mix between Napoleon Dynamite and Seth Cohen. It is a quirky but undeniably catchy mix.
The band succeeds in being indie without being pretentious. It is a breath of fresh air and is particularly attractive because this band will not only appeal to the throngs of 12-year-old emo kids, but also older people with less angst. It is the type of music heard at Urban Outfitters but not so trendy that you cannot listen to it in a few weeks.
The album's first track, "Must Be You," is like the All-American Rejects injected with Lou Reed. It is not exceptional but not bad. Before the album settles into mediocrity, "Say Goodbye" enters the picture with a piano and bass groove. And it only gets better from there.
One of the best songs on the album, "Justice" is catchy and vibrant fun. With lyrics like "The two of us entwined / This is not just justice," it's hard not to sing it for the rest of the day. Other highlights include "Lost at Home" and "Waiting on High." With gripping hooks, exciting vocals and superior lyrics, the album markets The Sun as an original band that could be the new Strokes.
For marketability, The Sun throws in some pop songs. "Rockstop" is really just a fun song. It is not pop like the Starting Line, but it is catchy, head-bouncing fun. Even better is that there really is not a hint of emo in a genre that could so easily belie an emo sound.
The format itself is more of a drawback than a unique twist on the music scene today. To upload the songs on your computer is a hassle, the DVD will not work in a car and listening carefully to the music while being forced to watch the music video is distracting.
The videos themselves are attempts to be artsy; some succeed and some fail. The video for "Romantic Death" has a "parental advisory" warning which it readily deserves — the music video simply shows different people's faces while masturbating. It is strange, at best, but it does do a great job at increasing interest in one of the album's less-enjoyable songs.
The best videos are simple and clever: "Lost at Home" features the band dressed like the Beatles circa the early 1960s, filming a video reminiscent of the Fab Four's "A Hard Day's Night," and "Rockstop" is Burney and a bunch of indie girls with their hair covering their faces. The video for "We Tried" shows each of the five band members getting killed off by the same girl they each marry. When the bassist dies by having a hair dryer thrown in his bath, it is sheer humor.
The Sun is not necessarily doing itself a favor with the format, other than to garner some media coverage due to original presentation of the album. In a world of multitasking, the general population will not want to sit through 50 minutes of music videos in order to hear an album.
The Sun's strength is their music and not the originality of their presentation. The combination of garage rock, indie, and even a little of the oh-so-trendy New Wave revivalism is everything music should be: clever, innovative and appealing.
The Sun sticks with what is popular without cloning every other band that is out there, and in that respect, they should be known for more than just being the first band to produce a DVD album.
Rating: AB
