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 Album: Pagoda
Artist: Pagoda
Official Site: http://pagodaonline.com/
For those of us wondering whether
or not grunge rock had seen its last days with the death of Kurt
Cobain, the dismantling of our favorite bands from the era, and the
consequent obscurity of some of their individual members, we can rest
assured that all was not lost.
With strong recent releases from grunge
rock veterans like Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth, and now this surprisingly
resonate and highly enjoyable debut release from Hollywood front man
Michael Pitt's pet project Pagoda, it seems as if the era has not only
never gone away, but might even be poised to make a comeback. That is,
if this band has anything to say about it.
Pagoda's music is
creatively explosive. The album takes you back to what some might say
were much simpler times in music—when style, image and public persona
were on popular bands like Nirvana's back burner, and it was all about
the music. Pagoda makes it clear in many ways that they intend to carry
on that legacy.
Though I'm not really sure whether
it's Pitt's conscious effort to sound like he's channeling Kurt Cobain's
every vocal nuance, or if it's just happenstance, I cannot deny that his
vocals are effectively haunting. Consistently, while listening, you’ll
swear you’re being visited by a ghost. The songs featured on the disc
have Pitt leading us in and out of dark places where one learns the
lessons of the beauty of pain. Simultaneously he pushes it away and
then embraces it as if it’s the only thing keeping us alive. He throatily
whines at us about the journey from death to birth, and all that is
endured in between. This again causes the image of Kurt to
materialize. If you close your eyes and listen very carefully, the image
Pitt paints with his skills as a poetic lyricist makes the resemblance
uncanny.
Whether that was what he was going
for, or the exact opposite (what he was desperately steering away from), it
doesn’t matter so much. He could, in fact, be completely indifferent to
how people perceive him. Track after track he builds this image up and
then destroys it again and again. From the cellist that provides the
right amount of mood to go along with Pitt’s somber voice, to the man
speaking true words about our society in a digitally imposed
background, Pagoda creates the right atmosphere for a nostalgic
remembrance of times way past. From relationships to abortions to
unwanted fame, the messages stream past your eyes in highlighted words
colored by Pitt’s passionate screaming. Even the whispered poetry reading Pitt engages in on the album's end takes you back. Its fascinating and hypnotic.
Beyond all of that, it’s just a
damned good rock album. Fast-paced and energetic at times; deliberate
and leisurely at others. Are comparison’s drawn to Nirvana’s Nevermind so terrible? Or even unavoidable? Pagoda isn’t as epic as Nevermind
was, certainly, because the phenomena of something different, pure and
fascinatingly irreverent is somewhat muted in the wake of the initial
explosion of grunge over ten years ago. But this is a different kind of
explosion. A defiant resolve on the part of Pitt and his band mates to
keep on doing it, and do it better than anyone before them.
They are
the first major player to step up in a long time to play a game most
believed to be long over. They fly the grunge/alternative/garage banner
proudly and do it justice here. It isn’t a cheap imitation, but a real
journey—an awakening of the kind of emotion, the kind of self
deprecation and self-mutilation coupled with self-examination those emo
boys only pretend to grasp and wail about.
This album is the correct mix of
lyric, bass, cello, guitar, and vocal. An almost perfect meeting of
skill and passion. The band had a long road to trail to get to this
point. We’ll definitely be watching to see where their fiery
determination takes them because it’s hard to take your eyes off the
flames. Pagoda is in stores now.
- Learn more about the band here.
- Listen to a few tracks here.
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