You probably know about Brand New by now, affectionately dubbed by Is this Band Emo as "the Radiohead of emo bands," stalwart alternative-rock titans who bridged countless genre gaps and with boundless influence. Science Fiction represents its fifth LP. A period of doubt, confusion, and anger rests within the eight-year period between Brand New’s last full-length release (2009’s Daisy). Science Fiction was carefully engineered by Brand New to offer a glimpse into the totality of its career. In a sense, it’s just that, a journey that takes you simultaneously backward and forwards into an artist's trajectory and mindset.
Editor's note: Brand New pretty much surprised-dropped this new album on August 17 after sending fans cryptic, limited edition CDs with the album on it. Downloads are available via PMT!, but you should call your local record store to see if it'll carry the physical release.
The album begins with "Lit Me Up," a dangerously calming track with an undeniable bass groove that plumbs alongside inky black guitar tones with a cavalcade of punchy, yet blurred, synth notes on a bed of apocalyptic ambiance. Towards the end of the track, frontman and principal songwriter Jesse Lacey boldly proclaims, "When I grow up, I want to be a heretic/I want to climb over the walls, I'm not on the list/I want to put my hands to work until the works done/I want to open up my heart like the ocean." This is not the first meta-textual lyric on an album that feels brutally confessional while simultaneously referencing soundscapes and lyrical themes derived from Brand New’s entire career.
"Can't Get It Out" introduces a brief flirtation with a whistle to the band’s constantly evolving sonic armament, and the song and falls back on dangerously infectious pop grade guitar tones with a simplistic structure that reaches deep into their origins for a loving send off to the Your Favorite Weapon era.
The album continues its tour of Brand New's legacy and collective growth, with 'Waste" flaunting its brit-pop influences, vibing hard on a groove that recalls earlier winks at psychedelia with jubilance. Just as surprising is the calmly redacted "Could Never Be Heaven" with a solemn acoustic propulsion that is subverted brilliantly on "Same Logic/Teeth," which continues Brand New's layered tapestries of chromatic chord progressions and dynamic soundscapes with blurred vocals that fluctuate between a throat-rattling scream and whisper-quiet breathiness. It's more than old tricks though. There are steep crescendos led by a triumphant horn, and bellowing choruses in baritone announcing, "at the bottom of the ocean fish won't judge you by your thoughts," If those lyrics feel familiar, they should.
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Brand New isn't willing to let go of its astounding guitar showmanship, with "137" embodying the slow descent into sonic fury. This same brazen intensity is furthered by the next track, "Out of Mana," albeit with the inclusion of a gigantic chorus hook. Are there epics you ask? Of course! Feel free to fall in love with "In the Water" for a spectacle of balladic dynamism. In continuing to solidify/defy expectations, Brand New relates matters of political nuance criticizing extreme conservatism in "Desert". There's despondent melancholy adjacent to pop mastery with "No Control." Is there cautionary and explicit lyrical mentions of hubris and forests along grim, throttling folk tinged intensity? Surely — you get that with "451." It's the ending of the album of course that solidifies the experience; "Batter Up" is a beautiful, haunting piece that trembles into a swelling procession of graceful, haunting gloom.
There's a lingering suspicion that this may, in fact, be Brand New's last album. If that is or isn't true, what this album represents doesn't change. It’s a testament to the band’s career, a pillar that defines its unique genre experimentation with a reverence and rawness that has yet been matched by the band. There are equal parts meta self-awareness, and crippling honesty — Science Fiction is everything that Brand New has always been. If this is the last entry in its cycle, it's the best exit I've ever seen, a meticulous engineering of nostalgic annihilation and acceptance. For those that grew up on the band, it's a special moment, a consolidating specter of the past, and for neophytes, it sounds damn right mythological.
That's what Brand New really is. A myth that speaks to you, directly, unfettered and true.
Critic’s rating — 5/5
Physical copies of Science Fiction ship in October. Call your local record store to see if it'll carry the release. Listen to it below.
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This article appears in Aug 17-24, 2017.