Music Review” ‘All Eyes, All Ears’ is all good
Artist: PiebaldAlbum: “All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time”
“The New Englander,” wrote Henry Adams, has “learned to love the pleasure of hating.” In an off-kilter, middle-class, “I still live in my parent’s basement” way, Massachusetts’s Piebald stays true to its heritage.
Their fifth album, “All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time,” plays like the rocking soundtrack to a Generation Y-themed Seinfeld imitation. From a subtle lyrical nod to Paul Simon in the opener “The Benefits of Ice Cream,” it’s obvious that this band moves beyond the traditional bleeding heart themes of emo-core into more lighthearted, and ultimately better, territory.
The lyrics are saturated with irony and tongue-in-cheek turns of phrase. They deftly tease all of the high school cliché that Top 40 radio celebrates and the result is a disc that stays fresh and never bogs down with the excess sentimentality that other acts struggle to curb. Witty can be honest and Piebald makes a point of proving it.
Vocalist Travis Shettel’s voice is a kind of high-pitched weapon, reminiscent of an in-tune Gordon Gano. His abandon in singing the 15 tracks on this album may not be serious, but it is sincere. And, when a band’s tour van uses vegetable oil instead of gasoline, serious just isn’t in the cards.
Instead, “All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time” travels through the arena-rock swagger of “Present Tense,” the straight-forward push of “Get Old or Die Trying,” and the piano-heavy Ben Foldsian “Part of Your Body is Made Out of Rock.” And yes, that last song is every bit as clever as the absurdly long and blithe title suggests.
In short, it’s rock music of the best order. Solid, fresh and strangely familiar, Piebald may be the best thing to happen to your CD player since you jumped on the emo wagon: it’s the kind of music that Weezer only wishes it could make.
-zpendleton@cc.usu.edu