The opening guitar rhythms, the infectious bass lines, and the nerdy, but incredibly pleasant vocals of frontman Keith Murray’s defined 2005’s With Love and Squalor and brought about an album as catchy as it was chaotic and suburb as it was fun, helping We Are Scientists earn the respect and awe of the music world. The newcomers had delivered a major label debut album for the ages, 12 tracks of crisp, furious dance punk mixed with witty, sweet lyrics.

Needless to say, the now New York duo of Murray and Chris Cain’s latest effort, Brain Thrust Mastery, has a lot to live up to. But as the first sounds of “Ghouls” graced the open air surrounding my laptop, it quickly became apparent that those infectious, plain fun rhythms and beats of the band’s previous two albums had been replaced by We Are Scientists best “lets mature like The Killers” impression. Whether in an attempt to gain approval from some picky music critic who is determined to bash any sophomore effort from any acclaimed indie darling or to mimic a few fellow contemporaries, Murrary and Cain chose to abandon the chaotic revelry of With Love and Squalor for a fuller, more developed sound and greater lyrical emphasis.

Unfortunately for We Are Scientists, quality got lost in the process. “Ghouls,” the album’s opening track, greets listeners with the duo’s best Killers impression as dark guitar rhythms and eery synthesizers back a monotone, repeated chorus. Yet the track feels forced and and fake, setting a precedent for things to come, and leaving a little less than three minutes of music that probably wouldn’t even do a Killers b-side justice. While “After Hours,” the album’s first single is sweet and simple and offers a break from the duo’s attempt to “grow up,” the 80s influenced “Lethal Enforcer” that follows is about as confusing in sound as is it in lyrics.

This new experimentation continues throughout the album as We Are Scientists repeatedly  bombard us with a sound influenced by everyone from the Strokes to Duran Duran. From the new wave melodies of “Spoken For” to the Arctic Monkey’s sounding “Chick Lit,” nothing sounds real, everything seems forced. In the song “Impatience,”  Murray sings for the need to slow things down, “So it’s time to stop being so impatient/Well it’s time to stop being so impatient,” taking it down notch. Ironically, for We Are Scientists, this is there problem - they are trying to do too much, sound like too many others.

For some bands, simplicity is the best recipe for success. Why change something that’s not broken? Why try to aspire to something you’re not? The second major album, is always the hardest for bands because they feel an obligation and need to offer something even more jaw dropping, more awe inspiring. However, often times, as is the case on Brain Thrust Mastery, the band forgets what they do best, how they got where they are in the first place. Why people love them.

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“After Hours”

Categories: Album Reviews, Features, News
Tags: We Are Scientists