Celebrity "Mining For Twilight" (Doghouse)
By Ken Marcou
Monday. Apr 24, 3:29 AM
Underrated moody rockers return strong.

There are a lot of good things going on in this album. Opener "Bloodsugar" is a delicate, introspective song with an acoustic guitar, the sound of rain, and Lance Black's voice wonderfully toying with falsetto and vibrato in a way that’s reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Black’s voice, along with the rest of the song’s elements, conjures up an image of him in his native Tennessee sitting on a large porch in the rain, singing out to the grass with a look of forlorn disappointment. Whether or not Black in fact owns a porch, his voice matches what he's expressing: how he "Should be happy where he's at," but clearly isn't. Here, Black’s vocals are at one of their best moments on the record.

The mood of the second song, "Motion Pictures About Love," is more direct and deliberate. It starts with a snare/crash cymbal slap and is filled with delayed arpeggios that make you feel like it's a Cure song. But the drums are jazz tinged and there's a slightly urgent but fluid bass line, which implies neither jazz nor Cure style rock. The song then gives us a nice big, yet not too over-the-top, chorus with full vocal harmonies. This song has nice effects in the bridge, animative rhythmic dynamics throughout, and keeps the melodrama at bay.

As much as I like the introductory two songs and the scorching third ("Hellbent"), the likes of "They Notice" are the best on the record. It's probably the most pop laden, but Black just has solid things to say like, "There's something I can't stand / chasing after the common man." Also, the use of synth and the guitar melody add darkness, which helps mystify the pop feel. "21" is actually even better, to the point of being the best song on the record. I mean Black sounds like he's holding back tears, while the rest of the band is just totally playing in the pocket, perfectly supporting the resonating anguish portrayed in his voice.

Everything being emotionally balanced is true for the majority of Mining For Twilight, with only some instances of it feeling like the vocals are trying too hard to be moody (and strangely, sometimes Black sounds like the guy from Foreigner, like on “Motivation”). At times the overall sound and feel of a song seems a little too “postured” (a feeling that is sadly reinforced by watching the videos on the DVD that accompanies the record), but overall this is Rock that, while rooted in a certain darkness, does have different depths. You don't receive a barrage of gloom or longing or any other emotion. There’s a sense of learned understanding within the album instead of whining. There's a line in "21" that says, "A song says everything a little sweeter than the taste that's left in your mouth," and I think Celebrity will help their share of people realize that truth.
www.doghouserecords.com
www.iamcelebrity.com

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Ken Marcou

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