My Latest Novel - Deaths And Entrances

The underlying theme of My Latest Novel’s first record in three years, ‘Deaths And Entrances’, is laid out early on in the lead track ‘All In All In All Is All’, as lead singer Chris Deveney intones ‘I’m at war, with thoughts of dragging you down with me.’ And drag us down he does, as most of the tracks on this somber album are imbued with the tribulations of war and the struggle of inner conflict. But most of the songs are saved from being complete downers by lush and uplifting orchestration that allows this album the occasional opportunity to soar and to distance itself a bit from the dour subject matter of the songs.

This is a group with obvious literary aspirations, both with the name of their band and their record, which is named after a collection of poems by Dylan Thomas that was heavily influenced by the outbreak of World War II, as this record is by wars both worldly and personal. And while that austere ambition occasionally bogs them down under the weight of their own pretension, there are beautiful moments in these songs that still manage to shine through the dusty bookishness of some the tracks. Anyone who has had enough of the fog of war the world has been under for years can certainly identify with the anthemic plea at the ending of ‘I Declare A Ceasefire’: ‘Please put down your guns, lower your weapons. I declare a change of heart.’ Even if the song tends to drag on a bit too long, it’s hard not to get swept up in the raw emotion of it all. And ‘If The Accident Will’ is a tender encapsulation of the pain of loss and the emptiness felt afterwards.

But frequently the songs are held down a bit by the weight of their own intentions, as the subject matter proves to be too broad for the somewhat simple lyrics, as on the overwrought ‘Argument Against The Man’ and the trite and flimsy ‘A Dear Green Place’. And the similarity to Cat Stevens in Deveney’s vocals on ‘Lacklustre’ is unshakable. The band clearly want to be held in the same regard as their literary heroes, which just can’t happen to a pop band these days, and that conflict creates a difficult balance between such unfortunate poetry and actual good songwriting. If Deveney would stick to songwriting that incorporates his poetry instead of trying to force poems into his songs, the band and their music would be better off.

The vocal harmonies found throughout the record are a nice touch, as the voices of Chris and his brother Gary rise in unison with the soaring orchestration, adding emotion and sentiment to songs that are already full of them. There still remains some Arcade Fire influences found throughout ‘Deaths And Entrances’, which isn’t such a bad thing musically (which is really the strength of this album), if only the lyrics could match the ambition of the music and the subject matter that inspired these songs.

For that is truly where the record falls flat at times, with tired couplets trying to encompass far too much within their wispy rhymes. And the correlation between the real war raging outside and the anguished battle between two lovers grows stale throughout the course of the album. These are pop songs, after all, and shouldn’t be a contrived attempt to break into the cannon of respected literature. The band seems to be confused with where their intentions lie, and the songs and album unfortunately suffer for it.