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All articles on East Coast Overture are Šopyright East Coast Overture and are owned by the site and the original author unless stated otherwise. All photography on ECO is owned by the original photographer. ECO is not responsible for the contents of any off-site pages or any other sites linked from ECO. Linking to the site or any of its pages is permitted and encouraged. This website does not permit direct linking of images, as that is bandwidth theft. East Coast Overture is not affiliated with any artist, recording label, management company, etc. ECO is an independently-produced project, headed by
Jillianne Hamilton.
In-Flight Safety - We Are An Empire, My Dear
By Justen Andrews
(08/06/09)
It's been a long time coming for the lads of In-Flight Safety since their 2006 release of The Coast Is Clear. Now they're back with We Are An Empire, My Dear, their third album recorded in the small-town isolation of Fox River.
The record has break-up in mind. I honestly can't remember how many of the 12 tracks deal with break-up and loneliness, but there sure are a lot. The heartache experienced in My Dear, however, has a lot more substance than you're typical "she-left-me-and-now-life-sucks" album. There is a certain dirt and humanness that just seems to invade every track. But instead of bringing you down, it fills you with a certain warmth that comes with the comfort of having such a grainy realism to hang on too.
In a world of Barbie Doll pop stars and roid' raging baseball stars, the theme is so very refreshing.
Musically, much has changed for In-Flight Safety, and at the same time, much is the same. Coast Is Clear basically gave them undisputed rights as the "Canadian Coldplay". It's a dreaded band to be compared to in the music world, but countless groups have to suck it up and deal with it.
And this new record sure reeks of Coldplay, regardless of how the band tries to defend it. "I certainly wouldn't describe us to be like Coldplay," says frontman John Mullane. "I know people pick up a lot of similarities in the melodic music. I think it's the dreamy quality of the music that gets [In-Flight Safety] lumped in with the Coldplays of the world. I usually say [In-Flight Safety] is cinematic rock music."
In a world where alt-rock bands like Coldplay and Snow Patrol rule, making 'cinematic rock music' in basic pop format is very hard to pull off and sound original at the same time. I really tried to give them the benefit of the doubt on this- but as much as I tried, I really couldn't erase the Coldplay comparisons that kept swarming into my mind.
On the bright side, Mullane's grating, and over-the-top vocals seemed to have settled down a bit, making the album listenable for at least a half hour.
The beautiful part of this record, however, is the lovely melodies that seem to rise from the sea of shimmering guitar and floating synth. They will often catch you off-guard and make you smile. "Model Homes"- though sounding oddly familiar- has a wonderful charm that is bound to linger in your mind for a day or two. This is a wonderful departure of the stagnate drones that seemed to consume The Coast Is Clear.
The songwriting is much more mature than the previous albums, giving the band a sound more unique and distinctive. A lingering vastness seems to trickle in some songs, lending a certain Sigur Ros emotion to it.
The verdict: although sincere and more mature than previous records, We Are An Empire, My Dear does not reach its full potential, due to Coldplay/alt-rock blandness.
Related links:
+ In-Flight Safety (@ECO)
+ In-Flight Safety (Website)
+ In-Flight Safety (MySpace)
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Justen Andrews is a flesh eating- zombie, currently residing in Thunder Bay. His most memorable zombie days, however, were in the rainy town of Truro, Nova Scotia. He enjoys laying under trees with a mandolin, reading corny westerns, and eating a good sandwich.
