David Bazan - Strange Negotiations
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CD Details
Artist: David BazanEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2011-05-24
Music Label: Barsuk
Soundtracks:
- Wolves at the Door
- Level with Yourself
- Future Past
- People
- Virginia
- Eating Paper
- Messes
- Don't Change
- Strange Negotiations
- Won't Let Go
Music reviews of Strange Negotiations
Music Review: Another very solid album from our friend David Bazan...
Rating: 4 Stars
I've been a fan of Bazan since around when Achilles Heel came out, and I feel like he's only improved since then. The early Pedro the Lion albums (particularly Control) will always hold a special place in my heart, but I think his work with Headphones and under his own name have shown a maturity and depth rarely seen in his earlier work. And this album is no exception.
Fans of "rockier" Bazan will be pleased with a lot of what they hear on this album (Wolves at the Door, Level With Yourself, Eating Paper, Messes), but there are some good slow pieces (Virginia, Won't Let Go) as well. A lot of people seem to compare this album to Control, and while I can see why they would say that - they are both rather diverse albums that have a good share of upbeat/heavy songs - the comparison only goes so far. Many of the songs (particularly in production style) feel more akin to the stuff on Curse Your Branches, and to be honest I can't picture a single one of them fitting into Control's tracklist. In some ways, this album is essentially a combination of every musical style Bazan has touched on in his very rich musical history (the synth line in "Messes" is a particularly good example of this pattern).
Lyrically, this album is one of Bazan's stronger efforts. The religious themes are still very present, but Bazan seems to be enjoying his new-found total freedom from the "Christian rock" label (shaken for good around the time of Curse Your Branches and the press surrounding its release), and is more critical of the faith than ever, particularly on Level With Yourself and Future Past. Eating Paper seems to address this change, and Bazan's audience's reaction to it, directly: "why would you sweat my confession / what I claim to be / when you see the fruit as it hangs on the tree?" Many songs also deal with America's political and economic landscape, a topic Bazan has visited many times, particularly on early albums like Winners Never Quit, and more recently with the American Flags single. The title track is the best example of this trend, a heartfelt piece of Americana that asks the listener to "look at everything we have lost" in today's society.
I've listened to this album a number of times since I was surprised to find it delivered to my inbox over a month earlier than the release date, and I've been impressed with its lasting value. Songs that originally didn't grab my attention (People, Level With Yourself) have grown on me incredibly, and early standouts (Eating Paper, Messes) have cemented their places in my list of favourite Bazan songs. I'd definitely recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of any Pedro the Lion, Headphones, or Bazan records, and I'd encourage anyone else to give it a try. David Bazan really is one of the best songwriters I've come across, and it's a pity he isn't better known. Hopefully this album will change that.
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Description of Strange Negotiations
David Bazan was, for many years, the songwriter and driving force behind the acclaimed indie band Pedro the Lion, building a dedicated following and selling a couple hundred-thousand albums based in large part on his extraordinary melodic sense and erudite, theologically-themed songs. After a decade helming the project,he found himself embroiled in a major personal philosophical and spiritual cataclysm, wrapped in a growing drinking problem. Bazan got to work exorcizing both his demons and angels, ditching the Pedro moniker in favor of his given name and producing two incredible pieces of work in the Fewer Moving Parts EP and the 2009 full-length Curse Your Branches (Barsuk). Branches is considered by many to be a legitimate masterpiece. Charting Bazan's increasingly skeptical struggle with the precepts of the evangelical Christian world in which he was raised, the album covers some pretty serious ground. NPR called it ''an album of great music and great humanity.'' Strange Negotiations focuses Bazan's energies toward the external, centering on his disappointment in the current state of accelerating American and global social fragmentation. Musically, most of Strange Negotiations sounds like a great rock band playing songs they're beyond intimate with. It's the first full-length he's recorded with a band, the same band with which he toured relentlessly in support of Curse Your Branches.Alternative Rock CDs
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