Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 9.0
Production: 8.5
Originality: 9.5
Tracklisting
2. Counting 5-4-3-2-1
3. Sugar In The Sacrament
4. At This Velocity
5. We Will Overcome
6. Arc – Lamps, Signal Flares, A Shower Of White (The Light)
7. Running From The Rain
8. Telegraph Avenue Kiss
9. The Lovesong Writer
10. Into The Blinding Light
11. Autumn Leaves Revisited
Admittedly, I was half-excited about the new Thursday album finally coming out. Yes, I briefly scanned (and judged) the band based on a few demos that leaked late last year. Do I regret this course of action? Wholeheartedly. As I saw in a recent interview with singer Geoff Rickley, he was very afraid of being judged on these demos, as they were rough and completely unfinished.
As more and more songs from the album surfaced, with the single “Counting 5-4-3-2-1” in my mailbox leading to “At This Velocity” on Alternative Press’s website, something about the nature of my mood or the moment they came to me didn’t rub the right way. I wasn’t satisfied, excited; I was apathetic. And as the podcasts hyping the album attempted to excite me, I watched them with a sort of longing. Finally, when the whole album was made available for stream on their MySpace page, I came to the sudden conclusion that I wasn’t interested in this record, at all.
But, when the advance suddenly arrived in my mailbox, and I put it in, I grinned with a sense of satisfaction about 45 minutes later. The record, in its entirety, is Thursday’s master album, compiling shadows and tints of styles from their previous efforts, but overall completely blowing my preconceptions away.
“A City By The Light Divided,” obviously, is an enormous departure from the anthemic, hook-oriented roots of the band. Most people were anticipating, or hoping, rather, for another “Full Collapse.” The truth is, it seems, that most people were let down by the angsty, screamy change the band took when they released “War All The Time,” their major-label debut.
Their second Island Records release continues on the same sorrowful, angry path, but leans more on the sorrowful songs like the beautiful resonance of Rickley’s voice on “Running From The Rain” or on “The Lovesong Writer,” where Rickley calls out, “can anyone hear me now…and no one hears at all…” On many occasions, the cold, stifling energy, familiar from “War All The Time,” screams true: “At This Velocity” may be the most screamy, chaotic rock jam the band has ever done.
The most abundant change Thursday has made on their new record is composing songs with an obvious profusion of textures. Songs once were laid down with simple guitar, bass, drums, and vocal structures—now there is everything from chanty breakdowns (on “We Will Overcome,” perhaps my favorite track on the record) to Muse-esque synthesizers (notably, the climactic “Into The Blinding Light”).
The atmospheric texturing on this record is truly an experience of its own. Thursday have obviously abandoned their years of writing clasping, crowd pleasing choruses, and instead have embraced their even more personal lyrics. The emotion on “Into The Blinding Light,” for example, is obvious, as Rickley screams/shots/wails “please someone help me, take away my loneliness, please someone fill me, take out my emptiness, please someone touch me, take away my longing hand, please someone show me the light!!!” And as this wonderful climax approaches, you can’t help but be almost shaken at the personal, vibrant noise coming over your stereo—and, if you’re like me, feel guilty for ever judging the band before the record came out.
My last thought is to mention that Thursday, finally, cannot be looked at as a band of singles, but instead have constructed a graceful, complete record. Don’t put on this album expecting to hear standout singles or radio-friendly pop hits; don’t read a book halfway and put it down. “A City By The Light Divided” is, without a doubt, my favorite Thursday record, and I resent every single judgment I made about this band before I heard this album in its magnificent entirety.