Two Tongues - Two Tongues

Two Tongues - Two Tongues

So what happens when you take two of the biggest bands of the 2000's emo/indie rock scene and throw them in one band? Glorious magic, that's what. Two Tongues is the side project and collaboration between Saves The Day and Say Anything, two giants in their own right. Taking front man Max Bemis and Chris Conley combining vocal efforts and guitar work, bassist Dave Soloway, and drummer Coby Linder, into basically a super group, Two Tongues debut album is everything fans would expect and more.

When you do combine such talent and such big names like Conley and Bemis it's easy to imagine that one would over power the over or that they would both pull away from each other, trying to be the larger voice. However this is the furthest from the truth, both compliment each other perfectly in every way. On it's own I tend to find Conley's voice, in this era in particular, to high and whiny, it annoys after a while. In this album Bemis's voice seems to underline the high notes of Conley coming off as one cohesive sound. They really come off feeling like almost one person with just two different voices.

In terms of sound the album does go back and forth between sounding musically more like Say Anything and like Saves The Day. Songs like Crawl and Tremors would be right at home on a Say Anything album while songs like Wowee Zowee and Don't You Want To Come Home are more fitting of Saves The Day. There's also some interesting songs in particular the song Alice which songs more like a hard rock song out of the 90's in a good way. It's nice to see some experimentation to break away from either one their existing bands.

Rounding out the album are a few songs that sound like a perfect mesh between the two bands. Since this is a first effort the musical style is to be expected. The follow up, which has been in the works for years now, should show a more cohesive meshing of each style. The last two songs on the album have each front man covering the other. Interesting fact, this is not the first time Max Bemis has covered Saves The Day, the first being the song being Jessie And My Whetstone. Bemis does his take on the song Third Engine and Conley takes on Every Man Has His Molly. It's cool to hear it, but to me both fall a bit flat. Third Engine loses a bit of it's potency and Every Man Has His Molly goes from being an acerbic and sarcastic slight against a former lover to being more of a whining lament. 

This is huge album brimming with talent. It combines two huge bands into a blender and what comes out is a delicious smoothy of sound. Even when you ignore where the members come from this is still a solid album for the genre. The songs all work so well together, they're all catchy as hell. The lyrics are easy to relate to. Poppy and pulsing this album is proof that super groups can work and work well. Anyone with interest in either band or fans of the genre should pick this up without hesitation.

Say Anything - Say Anything

Say Anything - Say Anything

I'll always consider this a new era for Say Anything. The first album and EPs were Max Bemis going through high school and college and dealing with everything that comes with it, cliques, adolescent romances, the feelings of being an outcast. The next 2 albums ...Is A Real Boy and In Defense Of The Genre were where he was really finding himself as a song writer and as a person, dealing with anxiety, drug use, promiscuity, and self loathing. This album is a departure from that which is definitely polarizing. Off the drugs, doing much better in life, and in love, this album is no where near the neurotic mess the last two albums were (mean that in a good way) and instead a lot smoother and more polished. Some people who latched on to the rough edges of the previous albums will find this disheartening and probably not even give this album a chance. While it is not as rough as before it's still full of all the angst, brilliant lyrics, and catharsis that makes Say Anything so great.

Less Cute is probably one of the most creative songs Say Anything has ever written, musically it goes back and forth between a big band style and a more traditional indie-rock style. Lyrically it's flawless, telling the tale from the perspective of a female who's been shunned by a lover and now is settling with someone else. We've all been there, and it's interesting to hear Max step outside of himself. Hate Everyone is a more traditional Say Anything song, taking a great rock sound with lyrics telling basically an entire life, pure poetry. Mara And Me is this album's Admit It! taking on fake people everywhere. No one is safe, not even Max himself as he puts it "I can't write the same damn song over and over again". That line sums up this album to me, it's not like anything before because if you just write the same songs over it becomes boring and fall out of relevance.

This album does feature some of the 'poppyiest' songs Say Anything has ever written. Particularly the song Crush'd which was clearly written as a way to proclaim his love for his now wife Sherri. It's a decent song, really but comes off even more sappy than Shiksa (Girlfriend) was. It's a cute song really but it just feels a little out of place for the band. The song Cemetery is another one clearly written for her. I don't mean that in a bad way really, it's probably one of my favorite songs, it's just a little out of place from what we've come to expect from Say Anything.

I wish people, especially older Say Anything fans would be more willing to give this album a chance. Once you get past the poppy love songs and get over the more polished production, it's still Say Anything underneath. Death For My Birthday is probably the darkest and most depressing songs they've ever done. It's still full of self loathing and angst just in a less chaotic and coarse package. It's definitely more accessible as an album to really fans of pop, pop punk, emo, indie rock, etc. It signifies a new era for the band that should be celebrated.

Say Anything - Hebrews

Say Anything - Hebrews

 

I'll start this review by getting the obvious things out of the way. First I'm sure by know unless you really don't follow the band, that there are no guitars on the album. Second this is not ...Is A Real Boy. If you were expecting a return to that sound or part of the crowd that refuses to accept anything else, then may as well stop reading now, your mind is already made up. In fact this albums lyrics are definitely inspired by your close mindedness. This album is a departure in sound and yet feels oddly familiar, especially if you've followed the band or have at least embraced the early years.

Also let me get the negatives out the way. This album features a ton of guest vocals from various sources and genres ranging from Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley to Tom Delonge from Blink-182. It's bursting with talent, but it almost goes to waste. The parts are poorly implemented and almost feel like an after thought. Almost every one comes at the end of the song their featured on. Which gets me to my next issue. It's too formulaic. I really hate to bring up the comparison but what made ...Is A Real Boy such a master piece was the chaotic nature in the song structure. Most of the song weren't just straight forward intro-verse-chorus-verse-outro. Mind you it was a drug fueled chaos and I'm glad he's remained clean, the songs in general come off too clean or poppy which was an issue the last album had. However that's really only in the structure and it's not every song. That wraps it up for my negatives.

Buy this album, listen to this album, love this album. This is Say Anything (To be fair at this point mostly Max Bemis, though to be even fairer it started that way and really has always been) at their best. Some of the best lyrics Max Bemis has ever committed to paper. Full of angst and self loathing, he is a wordsmith unlike anyone else in the genre. This album in particular is like a journey into Max's life. It takes you through his daughter's pregnancy and you can feel what he went through writing this album. In interviews this is something he did state, but I wrote it off because most of the time when musicians try and do that they either end up too subtle or it because so obvious like a brick to the face. This album manages to straddle that line eloquently. You can just feel what he was feeling. You feel anger, you feel fear, you feel hope, you feel joy. As a whole this album is a journey into this period of his life and it comes off stronger because of that.

The instrumentals are catchy and fairly impressive. You won't be thinking about the lack of a guitar or lamenting it's absence. It's going to be interesting live to see how it's pulled off. A lot people forget early Say Anything was pretty guitar light and heavy on the synths and drums. The melodies created will stay in your head, they're just this side of poppy to make them work with the angsty lyrics. Compared to Anarchy My Dear the lyrics feel less forced. It doesn't feel like he's trying to regain the crowd that left after IARB, they come off as earnestly scathing.

This album isn't ...Is A Real Boy. I hate that I have to say that, but it needs to be said. This isn't what you're used to, it's a progression of the Say Anything sound for the better. It feels fresh and yet it feels safe. There is no other band like them out there and they've gone and proven that again. Max Bemis is a master lyricist and only gotten better with time. If you can set aside your expectations of what a Say Anything album sounds like it's highly enjoyable. I recommend it to fans of the band highly, any genre fans sound take a listen if not for the guest vocals.