Beat Radio (a band that I’ve been listening to for a good few years now, round up post from a while back here) are back with their fourth LP, Hard Times, Go!. Lead Brian Sendrowitz teamed up with drummer Brian Ver Straten to put together a full length release based upon two previous EPs (which we wrote about here) after a succesful Kickstarter campaign.
The new album shows some definite changes from past Beat Radio releases. Yes, the music is still gloriously fuzzy and the words thoughtful and heartfelt, but the lyrics appear to deal with a different set of themes, as if Sendrowitz has changed his focus from a rose-tinted past and decided to confront the present. The explanation of the album on the Bandcamp page pretty much confirms this, with him detailing the circumstances under which he wrote the record and sounding very much part of ‘real’ life (with all the tedious and painful worries it brings), saying that the writing process was his way of dealing with the problems he faced.
Hard Times, Go! is doubly refreshing, firstly because it deals with a different aspect of relationships than the usual first love/loss of pop songs, and secondly in that it demonstrates that attentive and poetic lyrics can work in what is essentially catchy indie rock. Beat Radio show that pop music and literate lyrics aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.
I think Sendrowitz’s achievement (and it is a large one) is successfully managing to transfer the feeling from his earlier nostalgic releases into a new record which deals with very adult issues. It is easy to write and sing about a sunny past and sound in love with so-called better times, but here he manages to still come across as warm and sincere when dealing with less romantic topics. The album is full of realistic but hopeful (and thus hugely endearing) songs about life. It is a personal record, a brave record that truly wants to let the hard times go. It is a triumph.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqQGZ3YR0zA]
Hard Times, Go! is available on Bandcamp in a digital or vinyl, with a variety of nice merch items to get too (totes, tees, beer koozies etc.). Also be sure to check out the Hurricanes EP, a collection of B-sides and covers.