Elos Arma – Mother/Father
Release Date: July 9, 2012
Record Label: Self-released
There’s a moment in your favorite song that’s indescribable, maybe the tempo shifts or there’s a line that you simply connect to more than any other line. Whatever the case, these moments are often times what makes a song your favorite and allows it to stand out from the crowd. Elos Arma, the four-piece from Toronto play a brand of indie rock that facilitates such moments.
Mother/Father starts off with a song entitled “We Play for Keeps”; with this song at first it may seem that you’re listening to mostly uninteresting carefree indie pop with the opener’s bright instrumentals and catchy hook. But somewhere along the midway point of the song, the bright keyboard disappears and a guitar replaces as the hook becomes increasingly fraught. Near the end the final lines of the song “Walking forward feels like sinking, wading for that awful feeling” sound as if it’s having difficulty escaping lead singer Dan Tricanico’s mouth while harmonized with the hook and I was given that euphoric feeling that only listening to your favorite part of a song can give you.
These lines bring up an interesting point. While sometimes the songs may sound cheerful, the lyrics rarely are. This, while not completely unheard of, it is still not a standard practice and brings more of a sense of individuality. It also protects the band from sounding overly “whiny” that come with more somber music. The instruments are more about the album being able to keep a sense of fun than being obliviously happy.
The next songs follow similar paths with starting out with slow or dark instrumental work then gradually shifting tones and building up for a climactic moment. Worth noting is the fantastic instrumental work as every member of the band feels incredibly essential to the sound. No one instrument or part of the album stands above the other but instead melds together to create truly complete sound.
On paper Elos Arma sounded like a band I’ve heard before, already done better. “Indie rock?” I thought; Manchester Orchestra has got covered. I don’t need another indie rock band. But by the end of the first song it was obvious that Mother/Father wasn’t intent on recreating successful indie-rock tropes but creating a sound that was all their own and it’s hard to find new ideas being executed so well.
A nine for lyrics? Solid jams but, the lyrics do not deserve a nine in my opinion. Also, reminds me more of Emmarosa meets Two Door Cinema.
I don't score those individual categories as I think the average often doesn't reflect the overall quality of the album. I haven't really listened to Emarosa but I can see Two Door Cinema comparisons. I just used the artists' RIYL as I'm not very good with those things. Thanks for the reply and checking out the album
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