Singles Roundup: Miley, Spanish Love Songs, & Fear Factory

Disappointment seems to be the theme this week. That, and creative decision making that leaves me with questions.

Miley Cyrus - Bass Persuades

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between creative experimentation and a simple lack of focus. Sometimes there might not be a difference, if we're honest about things. Miley has refused to be pinned down by any one style or sound since becoming her own woman, which has made trying to understand her decision making a rather difficult practice. It feels like every time she finds something the fans embrace, she veers into left field. "Plastic Hearts" won over the rock fans, only to lead to "Endless Summer Vacation" and songwriter-pop. "Flowers" was a #1 hit, and she made an album of dramatic disco showtunes. And now... I'm not sure what she's up to this time.

The title track to her very soon to arrive album sounds like Miley trying to insert herself back into the pop matrix, which is a far different place than it was when "Flowers" ruled the airwaves. The sound of this song is entirely artificial and plasticine, a robotic composition that leaves little room for Miley's voice to work. Her voice is placed in the mix in a way that sands down the grit her voice is known for, which removes most of her personality. Coupled with a tune that has very little melodic contour, it ends up being a song that sounds like a rough sketch someone made fiddling with the presets on a synth. The song is lacking an interesting musical motif, a memorable vocal, or a passionate performance. There's not much here to dissuade me from thinking this is pandering for another hit.

And when the lyric starts to tell us to engage with the real world, essentially to 'touch grass', it's laughable when delivered through such a fake sounding bit of music. There are many reasons why the "kids don't want to dance", as Miley repeats many times, and among them is that music like this gives them no reason to. Dour pop, sad pop, deflated pop; call it whatever you want, but it's been a long time since pop music was actually fun. Who's going to have a great time to this sound?

Spanish Love Songs - Good American

It's always fascinating when a band throws away all the good will they have earned. "Brave Faces Everyone" was an album that might have set a modern standard for what confessional emo should be, and they followed that up with an EP and an album that stripped away all of the power of that record in favor of glossier 80s productions. The visceral emotion was gone, with the roaring vocals and guitars replaced with jangle and singing that highlighted the most whining of tones. I can understand that putting so much of yourself into a record can be draining, and uncomfortable, but the shift in sound obliterated the band's very identity... at least to me.

This song hints at a step back in the right direction. It is not a full-blown return to the "Brave Faces" sound, but the guitars are being hit harder, and the vocals aren't as cloying. The song is talking about being "born in the age of decline", and taking to task the society that is currently hell-bent on making life harder for everyone but the chosen few. The lyrics paint the picture of spending what little money you have on getting drunk so you don't process what happens as cops are violently detaining people in the streets, because not questioning how we have let the world burn is what makes a "good American".

It's a powerful subject, and it serves as a rejoinder to Bruce Springsteen's optimism that the best in people will get us through this. I'm sorry, but we've seen far too many people embrace the absolute worst to still believe that humans are inherently good as a species. We need the reminder, but I do think it would make an even stronger impact if the band cranked the performance up just a bit more. When you sound 'hipster', it leads to too many people tuning out before you can make your point.

Fear Factory - Roboticist

If you followed the story of Fear Factory, what is amazing is how you can hear almost none of it in the music bearing the band's name. Whether Dino Cazares was in the band or not, Fear Factory has made the exact same kind of music for thirty years. The machinations of their mechanized sound as so well-oiled and ingrained that it feels like anyone can step in and make the records. We're proving that out yet again with this song, only this time Dino is back and singer Burton C Bell is the one absent.

You might think the absence of a band's only singer would make an impact in what we hear, but that is not the case. Dino has recruited a new vocalist who fills the role with almost the same vocal tone, easily able to capture the ethereal delivery that made Fear Factory unique even when others copied the harsh/clean dynamic. Unfortunately, that is exactly the problem. If this is a new era of Fear Factory, and Dino is making the case that he was the driving force of the band all along, putting out a song that sounds indistinguishable from everything that came before proves exactly the opposite point.

There's nothing wrong with this song at all, but there's also nothing to say about it outside of the narrative of Fear Factory's career. It feels very much like another cog in the machinery, and it makes me hope the band was always aware of the irony of being robotic while preaching about the dangers of mechanizing the world. If not, it might be too sad what they have become.