The New Year - Newness Ends
(Touch and Go)
When I got the New Year's new CD, I rushed directly to the radio station to listen to it.
I wasn't expecting Bedhead, and I certainly didn't get it. Newness Ends
is not a BAD record at all--in fact, it's pretty good.
However, when listening to The Dark Ages EP or Transaction de Novo (as I did
the night before I got the new album) I hear the Kadane brothers creating really amazing music that the
New Year doesn't come close to. Gone is the restraint and the insecurity
that placed Bedhead so close to my heart. It's hard to not be a little bit
disappointed with this record of pop songs.
But it's a different band, and they aren't trying to be Bedhead. If
anything, I've really underestimated the rest of Bedhead. Newness Ends suffers
from a few things--it's too short and perhaps a bit too structured. The
album breezes by and there is little to really make it jump into my mind.
Bedhead, however, were addictive. I've listened to "The Rest of the
Day" hundreds of times, but I keep coming back to it, listening for the little
nuances that make it so perfect. The melodies are so simple but their
application was what made it work so well.
The New Year is definitely the product of the Kadane brothers, but it's
a bit more detached and less intimate. The songs roll but do not grab me.
The record definitely grows on you over time, but it still seems weak in comparison
to any of Bedhead's works. It's still "night" music, but while Bedhead is
perfect for 3 AM, the New Year is more like 10:30 PM.
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