"You can call me romantic/ You can call me what you will," yowls (International) Noise Conspiracy singer Dennis Lyxzen on "Let's Make History," from the politically outspoken Swedes' long-awaited fourth full-length, Armed Love. "But when I think about the revolution/ You're still in my dreams."
Lyxzen and his band of garage-punk and R&B purveyors have undoubtedly been called a lot of things since The (I)NC rose from the ashes of cult-beloved metalcore harbinger Refused in 1998. (I'm sure I could get my father, a retired Air Force general and Arkansas native, to call them a lot of things just by reading him some song titles over the phone.)
But romantic?
It's certainly not the first thing that comes to mind, for either die-hard fans or the casually acquainted. The first thing is usually either The (International) Noise Conspiracy's particularly ferocious take on primal, hip-shaking rock, or its loud, unflagging commitment to the idea that a drastic change in the world's political, economic and values systems isn't just possible, but necessary, and necessary now now NOW. This band was made for dancing on the hoods of cars burned out by Molotov cocktails, not dancing cheek to cheek.
Wasn't it?
"I've been writing lyrics about politics for so many years, sometimes I just try to shift the focus and approach things from a different perspective," says Lyxzen. "This time around, we came from a different place — on the old records, we used a lot of big words and rhetoric. This time, we felt like we didn't have time to fuck around, just get to it, talk about what it's like to live in this world.
"In that sense, it's a lot more personal, I guess. How everyday life is affected by the world we live in, how economic systems affect relationships. It's an interesting approach to try on."
Even the title and liner notes to Armed Love suggest a more cultural and relationship-oriented approach to politics than The (I)NC's previous releases have urged. They speak of living, of taking action, of applying one's beliefs to the interpersonal intricacies of one's existence rather than relegating them to dry, detached theory. There's still plenty of incendiary material here — look no further than "Like A Landslide" ("We've been waiting for a real solution/ We're talking about arms at this time") or "This Side of Heaven" ("'Cause I don't want to have to wait forever to find it/ I want freedom on this side of heaven") — but much of Armed Love deals more closely with the passions aptly summed in its title's two words, and the ways one can be a symbol of, or inspiration for, the other.
It's an album made by musicians — Lyxzen, drummer Ludwig Dahlberg, bassist Inge Johansson and guitarist Lars Stromberg — who might not be exactly the same people they were the last time you heard from them. That stands to reason; the last full-length (I)NC release, A New Morning, Changing Weather, came out back in 2001. While Armed Love was released in Europe at the end of 2004, a full year before finally dropping stateside last month (Lyxzen attributes the holdup to "typical label bullshit"), that's still three years between LPs, plenty of time for new interests and perspectives to develop.
And the lyrics aren't the only thing about the new record that's just a little bit different. Familiar listeners will recognize a definite streamlining of the group's propensity for eccentric riffs and arrangements. Compositionally and instrumentally speaking, this is a more straightforward version of The (International) Noise Conspiracy, one that tips its former balance of punk and R&B much more heavily in the direction of the latter.
"I don't think it was intentional," says Lyxzen. "When you write songs, it's always hard to plan ahead what you want to do. What came out was a very groovy kind of record. You can always sit down and say, 'Let's do this and this and this,' and it always comes out differently. Which is a great part of creating and playing music — you never know how things will end up."
The singer also credits the presence and never-subtle influence of legendarily hands-on producer/beard farmer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Slayer, Jay-Z, Johnny Cash) with shaping Armed Love's leaner, livelier, more immediate feel.
"He also made us write songs in a more 'song-y' kind of way than we used to," Lyxzen adds. "A lot of the old stuff was a bit quirkier, but Rick is kind of obsessed with writing straight-ahead, good rock songs … he pushed us, and we for the first time weren't afraid to let the song work the way it should. Sometimes we've hidden our songwriting skills behind quirky riffs, but this time we were like, 'Let's just write catchy songs'."
The tighter sound of Armed Love, and the fact that it's out on a subsidiary of corporate giant Warner Bros., will inspire allegations from the more dogmatic, punk-scene corners of The (I)NC's fanbase that the band has abandoned its principles.
As if Lyxzen hasn't heard that every 20 minutes or so since he signed his first record contract.
"Oh, every day," he says with a laugh. "OK, no, not every day, but it has been brought to my attention that we're on a major label. But usually, people who have a pretty good Marxist understanding of the way capitalism works in 2005 know why we're doing it; they can see what's happening. Mostly, it's people who might feel guilty, justifying their own lives.
"It's a naïve idea that you can work outside of capitalism. I don't think that's true … it's a decision of where you want to sell yourself, and we want to try to sell ourselves in the big arenas, in front of a lot of people. If it doesn't work out, we can go back to being punk rock again."
This article appears in Nov 23-29, 2005.