The single "Do Right, Do Wrong" off Breaker! Breaker!'s debut, Where All The Birds Yell, pretty much sums up all the ambitions and aspirations of the New York trio. Though nothing to knock the socks off your feet, it does manage to provide a good hook or two, and even a somewhat danceable beat. It's a decent start. Why, then, is this record so fucking horrible? Luckily, this album is so depthless and translucent that I can answer that quickly.
Ironically, though meant to be a quick and amusing listen (at a mere 24 minutes), the album is dreadfully dreary. Variety is not a gift that was bestowed upon Breaker! Breaker!, as every song imitates the previous one to a T. Whatever could be squeezed out of their simpleton formula is long sucked dry by the time "Do Right, Do Wrong" comes around, so that even its standout track (a looser sense of the term could not be used) is rendered dull and redundant. Whatever it is they might be going after -- post-punk, dance, whatever -- is butchered. Colin's guitars and Duncan's keyboards create an incessant, redundant, and obnoxious mess of treble; Gina's beats are stale and predictable; and the vocals... well, here's a taste, straight from the gutter's mouth: "I need some information/ I know it's a sticky situation/ Gimme Gimme Gimme Gimme validation/ I know you want to turn around and say Hi."
So utterly formulaic and mindless that if you've read this far you've done too much. Breaker! Breaker!'s debut fails on so many levels that to comment on all would be as dreary as the album itself. If the band gets lucky, critics will widely censure the album for the ear-sore it is, and they might then get some exposure. Or, as is likely to happen, the album will simply be tossed aside, and cast from memories -- and rightfully so.
1. Way Up, Way Up
2. Twilight Dependencies
3. Do Right, Do Wrong
4. Diversify
5. I Said What You Said
6. Little Missiles
7. Magenta
8. Trains on Broadway
9. Video War
10. Uptown Interlude 1. Way Up, Way Up
2. Twilight Dependencies
3. Do Right, Do Wrong
4. Diversify
5. I Said What You Said
6. Little Missiles
7. Magenta
8. Trains on Broadway
9. Video War
10. Uptown Interlude