Fans of the curiously named To Be a High Powered Executive rejoice; the Cleveland collective have just released their equally curiously-titled full length We Don’t Want it Safe, We Want it Secret. Recorded over only four days in the studio (with mixing and mastering on the fifth), the endeavour seems to draw parallels with God’s creation of the world in terms of its ambitious nature. And with talk on their Myspace blog of thunderstorms providing the band with creative inspiration during this time, it is no surprise that the finished album feels not only free and fun, but also purposeful and energised.
As anyone who has heard the band before will know, one of TBAHPE’s main strengths is their sheer diversity of sound, and sure enough, this record is no exception. “Building the Fort” establishes the foundations of the album as a synth-heavy, power-pop take on post-rock, but you only have to wait until “The Secret of Shattered Dreams and Silent Fucks” before this sound becomes infused with darker moments. Here the twinkling pop keys become infused with a moody (Pink) Floydian slide guitar and wandering bass line, which builds toward an explosive plateau, before returning to groove-based meanderings. The following 11-minute “They Gaped, they Gasped, they Stared” takes this strange combination of tension and energy and stretches it into a fantastic mini epic, composed of numerous interweaving grooves and slow-burning ‘quiet’ sections which gradually reform themselves until they’ve seamlessly become electrical ‘loud’ moments.
Things really start to get interesting when we reach “…and the Trees became Chairs.” This track finds the band at their most experimental, and as such comes as something of a surprise to the listener, albeit one which somehow works with the group’s gradually expanding musical palette. Here the band allow their effects to take a more prominent position; at three minutes in the track becomes deconstructed, piece by piece. The guitar which carried the track becomes forced into a loop which is then drawn out of time, and drowned in a sea of otherworldly synth waves. After 2 and a half minutes of noodling psychedelic ambience the track resumes course, segueing flawlessly (and unexpectedly) into an incredible rising build, the euphoric sound of returning safely from the depths. The synths retain a prominent position in subsequent driving jam, “Consummation.” Here, once again we are treated to a peculiar combination of serious and playful within the same track, brought together by the incessant energy of the drums. For all its energy, however I can never quite bring myself to connect with this track. Something about its adoption of a childlike sensibility within a more sober backdrop just feels awkward and forced. This is quite strange, since the band manage this balancing act at the beginning of the album with a kind of intuitive knowledge of what’re doing; for some reason here it just doesn’t quite work.
But following this track the childlike feel dissipates, and we are left with the ambient “The Path to”, leading into the cold sobriety of “Morla”. Beginning as a Tortoise-style shuffle, this track soon drifts into the realm of nostalgia and loss. But before we get a chance to collect our thoughts, one final surprise hits us, in the form of the grand finale “The King has Bled. We Have Slept, and Now We Must Wake”. Blistering guitar riffage meets the weary listener and drags him to attention before embarking on one last journey. Thankfully the music successfully carries the ‘after the revolution’ feel of the track’s title, particularly through the coupling of repeated chords and relentless drums in the second half, and the fantastic decision to follow this with strings and a piano to bring the album to a close.
Overall the album holds together surprisingly well, considering how varied each track might seem at first. After a few listens you can easily discern the feel of a journey, which definitely enhances the listening experience. And while I singled out “Consummation” as a potential hindrance to this progression, it should certainly not be enough of an obstacle to stop anyone from listening. All in all, this is a very ambitious album, with some excellent tracks and only relatively minor flaws. Considering it was recorded in such a short time, this is all the more impressive. I guess those thunderstorms must have helped after all!
-Alan Miles