Brand New - Daisy

The release of this came as a total surprise to me.
In fact, the realisation came at Reading while I was watching them, and my eyes strayed to the massive poster advertising it beside the stage.

While I still think of myself as a devoted Brand New fan, I am clearly not as much of an avid one as I thought. But to be honest, I would'nt have it any other way, as then the true force of this album would'nt have hit me due to obvious early leaks I would have downloaded, or anticipated how I wanted it to sound.

Now it is here, I can just accept it for what it is - a brilliantly sad story about what Brand New are best at - loss and heartbreak.

I love the old mono-radio theme that runs throughout the album, I think it emphasises the romanticism of the lyrics even more so, playing on the image of an old TCM black and white movie before slashing it up with static, squealing guitar.

Also very much a fan of the interspliced country music references in some songs, again giving the album another layer to experiment with, yet not at all using too much of everything so much to muddle the general direction.

As always, the slows are the best, as they are the best opportunities to showcase Jesse Lacey's genius lyrical ability. Some truly heartbreaking stuff, along with a surprising return to the more emo-orientated one-liners of the first 2 albums. Not sure if this is especially helpful for the overall progression of a brilliant band, but good for a smile on the first couple of listens at any rate.