Deja Entendu

Before I tell you about todays music for pleasure, I must add that my wife also can listen to a song endlessly, and she can exist in her car with one CD for an entire year.
That all said, Brand New's second album, Deja Entendu was the for one day only CD in my car.
Deja Entendu means already heard and it would be quite easy, but ultimately wrong, to say this has all been heard before. As albums go, as leaps between debuts and sophomore releases go, the difference between Deja Entendu and You Favourite Weapon is huge, both excellent, but ver much different.
Where Your Favourite Weapon saw the band shaking off the dirt from their boots after visiting punk town, post rock street, Deja Entendu, although wallowing in self pitying emo-isms, it also tips a nod to the likes of Conor Oberst.
So what of the album? If you think that you know the album, because it is brand new, because it was released in 2003 and rode the crest of the emo wave that was popular at that time, becuase you have some preconcieved notion of what THIS kind of album will sound like, without actually hearing it. I ask you to go find a copy and listen to the entire album.
I absolutely adore this album, it has been many months since I heard it, potentially a year or two, it was the soundtrack to many journeys around the time of its release and I have a lot of happy memories associated with it.
Jesse Laceys songwriting on this album is enough to show him as an immense talent, both lyrically and musically and his turn of phrase and wordplay puts the likes of Bragg and Morrissey to shame. Morrissey is always an influence for Lacey, but not in a painfully adoring way like The Ordinary Boys, Lacey's tribute is understated and he tries to capture the forlorn elements of The Smiths.
Singles off this album, The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows and Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades although their 2 career defining singles, this album holds better tracks within its digital walls, notably, The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot and Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis. Not to say that is all that this album has going for it, it has more. All in all start to finish it is a sublime album, extremely good and one in my opinion they haven't equalled....yet. 10 out of 10.



The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot by Brand New