Albums of 2009: Brand New, Daisy

After 2006’s critically acclaimed and objectively stunning The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, expectations were high for Brand New’s follow up. Although Daisy was still met with praise upon its release, several critics noted their disappointment that it was not the watershed album that they had expected. One point we should bear in mind is that if a potential game changing album did get released, surely it’s a bit arrogant to assume that we’d recognise its revolutionary nature? Although generally regarded as slightly less brilliant than its predecessor, I think Daisy was easily one of the best albums of 2009, if not the decade.

It’s a compact and dense package, but inwardly confusing, bleak and purposely exhausting to listen to. From the haunting cover art to the tiny plaintive sonic shifts, the album will leave you physically shaken as you listen to it. Like slowing down as you drive past a traffic accident, except with the self conscious curiosity traded for tortuous static. The dynamics are harsh, as the excruciating and cathartic ‘Vices’ instantly freezes into the somniferous ‘Bed’ where you’d expect it to melt. Later, ‘In a Jar’ blends a provincial blues lead into a sepulchral scream of nightmarish philosophy.

The album’s themes poetically delve below the personal, trading moments of introspection for a breathtaking emotional vacuum. ‘Sink’ is music at its most intimate and violent, as Jessey Lacey’s vocals escalate from undirected screaming to interrogation. Elsewhere, the title track manages to undercut innocence with apocalypse.

There’s the occasional threnodial pop, as ‘At The Bottom’ handles the death of a loved one with the candid mortality of road kill spread clumsily across the tarmac, creating one of the most confessional and distressing songs you’ll ever have stuck in your head:

A deer that a hunter shot in the heart
Some dogs that got hit by cars
All came to spill their guts
And we spoke
About the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
And which psalms we had loved the most
And then we all turned to dirt
And dust

Sonically, this album is like nothing that has come before it. As clever and immaculate as it is conceptually, it’s also crooked and Hellish as an experience. This is not an album for the faint hearted. In fact, it can be so difficult to listen to that appreciating it is almost an act of sadomasochism. I like to think that the fact that critics did not proclaim it a watershed album actually illustrates how revolutionary it is, managing to be magnificent but without the sensibility that invariably accompanies canonical genius

By its very nature, Daisy almost deserves to be buried in one of the dark caverns it creates. It’s like the Arc of the Covenant. If they played this cover to cover on the Radio 1 breakfast show, the studio would look like that scene from Indiana Jones. If it made Chris Moyles’ face melt, I’d love this album even more

Grade: A+

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Tags: brand new, daisy, jesse lacey, the devil and god are raging inside me