The State News
Keith Lynch, otherwise known as Unknown Component, should take a few cough drops or drink some caffeine before recording another album.
The beginning of his fifth album, “In Direct Communication” released Tuesday, leaves you wondering what in the hell you’re listening to from the get-go.
The opening song, “Into The Sun,” has Lynch, who sounds like a tired Ben Gibbard, leaving the listener bored to tears.
One time through was enough for this opening number. Lynch’s voice is gravelly and unforgiving, and the first song left me begging him to change my mind about what was to come on the rest of the album.
“It’s a Fine Line,” the second song on the album, starts off with a promising, catchy beat, but still feels awkward to listen to. Lynch sounds uncomfortable in his own shoes, with an uncertain gruff to his voice that is less than pleasing to the ear.
The song ends with an even more awkward fade-out; a style that should have been left on a song from the 1995 Top 40.
“Retrospectively Speaking” is a step up from the first few songs, but only because I might listen to it more than once. “Between Guilt and Relief” is even better, with lovely piano in the background. But the song’s synthesized string parts make it too cheesy to truly enjoy.
The album then takes a dark turn, with “Somewhere a Light Has Gone Out” and “On Your Mind” dreary and unforgiving. The sound is almost preferable though, because Lynch isn’t straining his voice.
In “Identifying Interpretation,” I’d even venture to say Lynch is going for a Kurt Cobain sound — cynical and grungy. This isn’t to say I’d compare him to Cobain by any means; he’d need to impress me way more than this to make any such comparison.
I do admit Lynch has some interesting lyrics. The chorus in “Identifying Interpretation,” “Time isn’t ours/it’s extinguishing the stars/in a race to arrive/the place we think we are” leaves the listener thinking about what Lynch is saying and who can relate to it.
Even Lynch’s more upbeat songs, like “Brought Up to Be Put Down,” fall flat on their face. Lynch sounds as though he was half asleep, half ill while recording.
I had to sit through this album until the second to last track, “Never Ceases to Remain Unchanged,” to feel even the least bit pumped up about what I was hearing. The song sounds more genuine than the others, with a catchy opening.
The sound can definitely be compared to very early Death Cab For Cutie, circa “You Can Play These Songs With Chords.”
The album ends on a better note, with “The Inconsistent System” leaving the listener feeling motivated (almost) to get up and have a good day. But the ending is too quiet and too bland to leave much of an impression.
“In Direct Communication” seems to be out of order. The bouncy, more fun songs seem to be at the end of the album, with boring, bland songs at the beginning.