Monday, January 07, 2013

Band Review: Boys Like Girls


First off, just to be clear, the name appears to be a statement affirming that boys do like girls, rather than a reference to boys who are like girls. Tyson experimented with different emphases and inflections a bit on stage.

Now, this is where I have to confess a bit guiltily. I did not stay for their performance. I was ready to. I had listened to some of their music in advance, which I had not done with either Sunderland or Parachute because I had no idea they would be there. However, I was there for the All American Rejects, and despite my total enjoyment of the evening, and my confidence that I would enjoy the rest of the show, I was so tired that having seen our band, we ditched.

I am an old person, I hadn’t been to a concert in a long time, and I had been standing and dancing for the whole show, because there is very limited seating there, and in some ways that is cool, and makes the show more fun, but it also wears you down faster and most of the audience was significantly younger.

This feeling of guilt makes me want to give them a great review to make up for it, and I am planning on reviewing some bands that I have not seen as well as the ones that I have, and actually, the other band affiliated with that night is also one I have not seen, so I guess it works. Guys, I’m sorry.

And it is totally not a bad review, though it is somewhat mixed. I mentioned how with Parachute there was an occasional country influence, that really came through on one particular song. With Boys Like Girls, there are several songs that feel country, and others that feel very much pop, perhaps dance club style. Wikipedia calls them a rock band in the heading, then under genres in the sidebar lists pop punk, alternative rock, and power pop. Spotify refers to them as emo-pop, but “emo” gets thrown around rather indiscriminately, and I’m not sure that works; it seems like there should be more self-flagellation for that. In the expanded biography it expands to emo-pop turned country-tinged pop outfit.

Actually, that right there might be an excellent argument that genres are pointless, but I’ll add my two cents, and say in some ways, it feels more to me like you have two bands sharing space, and one is country and one is pop. (I don’t even know how to differentiate between power pop and pop punk; is it the presence or lack of power chords?)

Anyway, some bands will create side projects to try different things, often separating temporarily, or just taking on a different name, like Green Day and Foxboro Hot Tubs. Also, you will often find bands that go through different phases, sometimes as a natural progression. There are certainly musicians who have moved to country after starting as something else (Nelson, Darius Rucker).

What’s interesting with Boys Like Girls is they seem to move back and forth on the same album. “Heels Over Head” may be their most pop song, and “Thunder” and “Hero/Heroine” both feel much more country-tinged, but all three are on their self-titled debut album from 2008. “Broken Man”, also there, may actually be their most representative song, because I hear hints of rock, pop, and country. Of course, it is on the second album, Love Drunk, where we get a title track with a video featuring Ashley Tisdale, of High School Musical fame, but that’s also where they’re working with Taylor Swift for a Hannah Montana movie—talk about your country-tinged pop!

So, it’s interesting to me, and this is where I feel that I really would have a better grasp on them if I had seen them live. Bad concert-goer. Therefore, all I can do is look at the songs, and feel like there is some lack of organization and clarity, and like I don’t really have a grasp on the band.

I will say there is some definite musical diversity. It’s not just that the song styles seem to go back and forth, but they pull out some interesting things, where on “Crazy World” it almost seems like a 70’s throwback, and while I do not really like the term “butt rock”, there are some song intros where it seems to apply.

My favorite songs are the previously mentioned “Heels Over Head” and “Love Drunk”. There’s an exuberance to them. You would think I would shy away from the country-sounding ones, but “Thunder” is really beautiful. “Hero/Heroine” doesn’t work for me. I think the words and tone of the song don’t form a unified concept, and it bugs me. On the other hand, I am pretty sure that I am missing something about “Red Cup Hands Up Long Brown Hair”, and I still love it. “Be Your Everything” sounds to me like it should be a Trisha Yearwood song, and there might be some positives for the band in that happening.

Sometimes timing helps. I started listening to them around New Year’s, so finding “Five Minutes to Midnight” fit just right, and I liked it, but maybe I liked it more due to timing. Regardless, the song is still kind of a party. I also ended up being really fond of “Up Against the Wall”.

Now, I said I wasn’t sure if the “emo” label worked (honestly, I’m still wrapping my head around how to use that properly), but there is definite sadness at times in the music. There is a real poignance to “Great Escape”, despite it being an upbeat song, and to “First Time” as well, though for different reasons. There is the passage of time, and maturation.

I do need to say that Crazy World definitely has the most mature and diverse sound, which indicates growth as a band and I like to see that. It looks like there were questions about whether the band would continue, and then suddenly there is an album and tour dates in 2012, and a bit of a change in the line-up, but it seems to give an extra resonance to the line on “Life of the Party” (which has a really interesting intro and rhythms):

“Smells like Boys Like Girls is back.”

Glad you made it gentlemen. Maybe it did all come crashing down, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

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