Jump to content

Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone


Recommended Posts

After spinning this album a few times, I think it's probably as good or better than Schmaltz (which was my AOTY two years ago), but I'm not enjoying it nearly as much and it took me a while to figure out why.  I think I liked Schmaltz so much because (to me) it felt like a pretty incisive album about a specific time in this specific band's life - basically being a band full of people in their late 20s or early 30s, struggling, wondering if it's all worth it, if there's a future, what that future is, and being depressed (or numb) about the answers to those questions.  But now Brave Faces Everyone is about . . . pretty much the same thing.  With the exception of Dolores and maybe Losers 2, most of the songs read like fairly general musings about how they're/we're tired and depressed because everything sucks and will probably suck forever, to the point where I feel like you could swap a verse from one song with another song and barely notice.  What felt to me like pretty nuanced self-examination on Schmaltz just feels like schtick to me on Brave Faces Everyone.  Plenty of bands get saddled with the accusation that they only know how to write one type of song (and I probably like several of them), but I don't think I've gotten as tired of a band's "thing" as quickly as I have with this band.  I still love their sound, and they have some really great lyrics, so I'll certainly keep following them and I'm interested to see what they do next, but they're a pretty tough hang for me at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dawhizz said:

After spinning this album a few times, I think it's probably as good or better than Schmaltz (which was my AOTY two years ago), but I'm not enjoying it nearly as much and it took me a while to figure out why.  I think I liked Schmaltz so much because (to me) it felt like a pretty incisive album about a specific time in this specific band's life - basically being a band full of people in their late 20s or early 30s, struggling, wondering if it's all worth it, if there's a future, what that future is, and being depressed (or numb) about the answers to those questions.  But now Brave Faces Everyone is about . . . pretty much the same thing.  With the exception of Dolores and maybe Losers 2, most of the songs read like fairly general musings about how they're/we're tired and depressed because everything sucks and will probably suck forever, to the point where I feel like you could swap a verse from one song with another song and barely notice.  What felt to me like pretty nuanced self-examination on Schmaltz just feels like schtick to me on Brave Faces Everyone.  Plenty of bands get saddled with the accusation that they only know how to write one type of song (and I probably like several of them), but I don't think I've gotten as tired of a band's "thing" as quickly as I have with this band.  I still love their sound, and they have some really great lyrics, so I'll certainly keep following them and I'm interested to see what they do next, but they're a pretty tough hang for me at this point.

Pretty fair assessment.  I can't argue with any of it.  Everyone gets different things out of music, and I will simply say that if I was a "lyrics" guy, bands like this one – and the other band which shall not be named – are pretty redundant in that regard.  The message gets a little stale when spanned across multiple songs, and feels like beating a dead horse when it permeates into other albums.  Maybe it works for some people.  I'm not trying to knock the people who need an anthem for being in their 30s and having to stretch their budget this month because of unexpected bills.  But it's kinda' trite at this point, and I think if you're going to commit to that style of songwriting, you need to go balls out.  I want a soaring anthem for being further ahead in your 401k than projected.  I want a relatable jam about scoring the last loaf of garlic bread at the grocery store, and arriving at the self-checkout line right as a spot opens up.  Give me that real world shit.  That's the fresh, relatable, 30-something stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Derek™ said:

I want a soaring anthem for being further ahead in your 401k than projected.  I want a relatable jam about scoring the last loaf of garlic bread at the grocery store, and arriving at the self-checkout line right as a spot opens up.  Give me that real world shit.  That's the fresh, relatable, 30-something stuff.

I laughed at this, and would absolutely listen to it. I agree with the other guy, but because I heard schmaltz after this album I still REALLY enjoyed it. Definitely got the repetitive tones when finishing their discography, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, EGsynergy said:

Any word of a tour variant for this? I’ll be seeing these guys next week and don’t know if I should pre order the beer version or pick up a copy at the merch table.

They sold out of the tour variant in Europe. They will have the twist on their US tour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, EGsynergy said:

I laughed at this, and would absolutely listen to it. I agree with the other guy, but because I heard schmaltz after this album I still REALLY enjoyed it. Definitely got the repetitive tones when finishing their discography, though.

I'd be here for this too.  Another way to go with it would be "we're finally finding some level of success, what does that mean?" type of direction.  I initially thought the line "Have you seen me lately?" in Self-Destruction was a reference to the Counting Crows song, which is about losing your personal identity in the wake of professional success (and Recovering the Satellites as an album is kind of a sneaky influence on a lot of emo/punk bands), but given the rest of the album's content I'm less convinced (although this that I found just now maybe suggests otherwise https://www.alreadyheard.com/playlist-spanish-love-songs-essential-tour-tracks/) .  It feels like Schmaltz was about as much of a success as it could have been and probably brought the band bigger crowds, bigger rooms, more fans, unprecedented positive press, signing to Pure Noise, being, as they've said, on the verge of being able to be a band full time, etc. and there's something  interesting to me about "what happens when the band of losers starts kind of winning?", but they seem to entirely downplay that, at least in the recent interviews I've read.  Maybe that's coming next, and, if so, I'm ready for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
20 minutes ago, lostcrimes said:

ahhh shit! I didn't see the UK version of the PN store when googling for the record but I did end up ordering a copy from banquet records since I couldn't find any NA shops selling the new record.

thanks!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, ingoodhands said:

ahhh shit! I didn't see the UK version of the PN store when googling for the record but I did end up ordering a copy from banquet records since I couldn't find any NA shops selling the new record.

thanks!!

heres links to all our official stores

http://www.purenoise.net/stores/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

Thanks for the bump @ingoodhands. You just reminded me to listen to this again. It's been at least a month. Wtf is wrong with me?

Guilty as well. With my life and the world completely different from when it was released I forgot about it as well. Thankfully spotify helped me out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, ingoodhands said:

it's one of my favorite discoveries of this year!!! so good

Yeah, I gotta back catalogue now, but I'm a n00b as well. That whole album is probably one of my favorite recent releases. It's so timely, honest, and (unfortunately) very relatable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MerchNow https://spanishlovesongs.merchnow.com/products/v2/314719/brace-faces-everyone-bone-and-blood-red-butterfly

MerchCowboy (Germany / EU) https://purenoise.merchcowboy.com/spanish-love-songs/spanish-love-songs-brave-faces-everyone-lp-12-butterfly.html

Will be up in our Australian and UK stores soon as well.

4th Press - Bone & Blood Red Butterfly (/700)

42fd923e36d0472b99e64aebeadeb8c7.jpeg

Also Banquet Exclusive Bone w/ Neon Orange Splatter /300

https://www.banquetrecords.com/spanish-love-songs/brave-faces-everyone/SLSLP2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

So, it's like 5 years into 2020 at this point. SEVERAL of my top-tier, all time, top 5, etc artists have released awesome records. Some early in the year, some like 2 weeks ago. 

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite/ the most important album this year. It barely qualifies as a 2020 record, but I'm pretty sure it won from the jump. 

I can't wait for the next one. I mean fuck. Imagine if they were writing this shit in April/ May. 😳

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, MacDonals said:

Waiting for a repress on this one...

Actually the Pure Noise UK store had some of the third and fourth pressings in stock and very reasonably priced shipping to the US.

3rd pressing - beer

4th pressing - bone in blood

Also banquet have got some bone with splatter:

https://www.banquetrecords.com/spanish-love-songs/brave-faces-everyone/SLSLP2

 

/300

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

So, it's like 5 years into 2020 at this point. SEVERAL of my top-tier, all time, top 5, etc artists have released awesome records. Some early in the year, some like 2 weeks ago. 

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite/ the most important album this year. It barely qualifies as a 2020 record, but I'm pretty sure it won from the jump. 

I can't wait for the next one. I mean fuck. Imagine if they were writing this shit in April/ May. 😳

Think its my favorite album we've put out this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, ExtraFox said:

Another AOTY vote from me. I'm rarely on my own in the car, but when I am, I play this. That said, it sounds like balls on headphones. I can't get through one song before I have to stop. It's painful to listen to.

I'm assuming you mean digitally? I listen on headphones on the turntable, and it's great! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

So, it's like 5 years into 2020 at this point. SEVERAL of my top-tier, all time, top 5, etc artists have released awesome records. Some early in the year, some like 2 weeks ago. 

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite/ the most important album this year. It barely qualifies as a 2020 record, but I'm pretty sure it won from the jump. 

I can't wait for the next one. I mean fuck. Imagine if they were writing this shit in April/ May. 😳

Totally agree.  It's my #1 of the year in a year that I think has been better than the last couple.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist