Fucked Up, “David Comes to Life” LP

fucked-up-david-comes-to-life-frontFucked Up
David Comes to Life
(Matador Records)

About halfway through listening to the new Fucked Up album, David Comes to Life, I though, “I just can’t make it through.” I’d been waiting for it expectantly, and the write-up and interview over at NPR First Listen certainly added to my optimism regarding the release, especially after being rather let down by The Chemistry of Common Life.

I understand that bands have to change, and I understand that Fucked Up is a rather complex organization of individuals with diverse interests, and that creates certain levels of epic creativity that are difficult to constrain. They had to put up a website to explain everything on this album, for example. Still, having repeatedly slammed their first full-length, Hidden World – as well as the near-perfect “Year of the Pig” single – into my ear holes with delight and glee, I can’t help but be confused by the recent tacks taken by the Canadian group.

But, upon listening to all of David Comes to Life, one has to ask, “Is it it possible for a band to both stray too far afield, while simultaneously remaining stagnant?” If so, Fucked Up seems to have figured out how to do so. While there were several songs on their debut full-length that broke the six-minute mark, they were counterbalanced by others that blasted by at around three. Since then, however, the band seems to favor songs of increasing length, to the point where the majority of songs push five minutes.

What’s with all the clock-watching and timekeeping, you ask? Essentially, the band just keeps stretching their songs past the length where they’re listenable. Every song starts out sounding different, and the intros promise an interesting track, but halfway through, the fall into the same pattern. Each song ends up as a wall of guitars with a breakdown, and all of it going at the same pace at the same point in every song. If they cut out half the song, the listener would get a piece of music that didn’t inevitably disintegrate into formula.

It’s a frustrating experience to know that a band is essentially resting on its sonic laurels while, at the same time, pushing past all of that conceptually, releasing an album that deals with Rashomon-like narrative dissonance. There are, of course, exceptions, most of which come in the album’s final act, such as “Inside A Frame.” That song’s angular riffage provides a pleasant respite from the fuzzy strumming that dominates David Comes to Life.

From that point on, the album’s a winner, if only for its conclusion. The way “One More Night” slowly collapses inward is gorgeous, and feeds perfectly into the final cut, “Lights Go Up.” It’s a triumphant, anthemic, end to a muddled record, rising up like a phoenix from the ashes of an otherwise unsatisfying experience.