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I are Droid, The Winter Ward: Leaving Ground

Sonic diversity within the confines of genre is rare enough, but when one encounters a band like I are Droid, it’s a fitting reminder that those who actually cross boundaries after acknowledging them are in much scarcer supply. I are Droid‘s second album for Razzia Records, The Winter Ward — their first outing was 2008’s cleverly-titled I are Debut — is such a release, culling together elements of modern alternative and classic heavy rock and marrying them with a vast array of sonic textures in the form of synth and programming. To give some basic idea of how that works, one might look at a song like “Kill it Good,” fourth on the album and among its most infectious tracks. On the surface, you have the trio of guitarist/vocalist Peder Bergstrand (once and again of Lowrider), bassist/backing vocalist Jens Lagergren and drummer Fredrik Okazaki Bergström, who proffer excellently composed and performed, driving rock and roll, but under that and running along with it there are layers of synth worked in and midi that comes courtesy of Bergstrand and producer/mixer Daniel Bergstrand. Not only do these electronic elements become essential to the overall listening experience of The Winter Ward, providing a bed for the strong hooks of “22:22,” “Feathers and Dust,” “Constrict/Contract” and “Kill it Good,” among others on the 11-track/46-minute offering, but they create an immersive depth in the mix that puts the audience in a different headspace while hearing the album almost without realizing it. They’re the world in which the songs happen, but they’re also part of the songs themselves, and it’s not necessarily appropriate to think of them as separate — the builds in “Feathers and Dust” and “22:22” can attest to that, as the synth not only matches the forward motion of the other instruments, but is another, essential piece of the whole. Shades of Bergstrand‘s desert guitar tonality and fuzz show up in cuts like “Leaving Ground” (the longest on the album at 6:26) and the particularly Queens of the Stone Age-esque guitar progression in the verse of “Given is Given,” but even this is shifted and directed to suit I are Droid‘s more complex, more nuanced purposes. The real triumph of the record is that it’s pop.

It would be fascinating enough for I are Droid to put together a collection of songs using these methods and have it be a fucking mess, unstructured and dense with self-indulgence, but that’s not how The Winter Ward plays out. These songs have hooks of nearly unbearable potency, and at the heart of all this stylistic breadth there resides an adherence to classic, immediately familiar verse/chorus construction that makes a cut like the percussion-centric “Odes” as accomplished in terms of basic songwriting as it is aesthetically. Couple that with crisp production — Daniel Bergstrand‘s name might be familiar from his recording/mixing work for Meshuggah, In Flames, Behemoth, Devin Townsend, and so many others; the drum sounds here is a sure tell of metal roots, whatever context surrounds — intricate, headphone-worthy mixing and Peder‘s dynamic vocal sensibilities and The Winter Ward becomes even more accessible, the lyrics of opener “Then, at 15” setting a wistful, reflective tone for the rest to follow that stays general enough to be universally relatable. This mood perfectly suits Peder‘s voice, which arrives melodic over an initial salvo of synth tings before the chugging guitar/bass and deceptively weighted drum thud begins and “Then, at 15” starts both its hurried push and lyrical coming of age narrative. For as long as there’s been popular music, that’s been a theme of it, but I are Droid use the opener effectively as a point from which to expand — the subsequent “With Lowered Arms” and “Given is Given (Part I)” both drawing on some of the same sweet melancholy while broadening the palette overall, the second track maximizing an open, airy feel while “Given is Given (Part I)” grounds the overarching flow with an encompassing melody in the vocals and guitar, which dominates accompanied by Lagergren‘s bass. The methodology holds for the next couple tracks, as “Given is Given (Part I)” feeds into the ultra-catchy “Kill it Good” and “Feathers and Dust,” each of which efficiently toys with the balance of rock and electronic progressivism, pushing to one side or the other for any given verse or chorus, a double-edged hook emerging in “Kill it Good” that stands as one of The Winter Ward‘s strongest, though certainly there’s no shortage of competition.

I’ll admit I’m ignorant as to the state of commercial rock radio in Sweden, but any one of the fist five tracks on The Winter Ward seem ready to stand alone as a single, however well they also work together in succession. “Feathers and Dust” reintroduces the more open feel of “With Lowered Arms” — far off post-rock guitars echo in the background of the chorus — and Bergström‘s steady kick holds a sense of movement through verses that otherwise might wander, dropping out only to let the vocals and electronic swirl serve as foundation for the build to the reentry of a final chorus. As the centerpiece and the only song not roughly in the three-and-a-half-to-four-and-a-half-minute range, “Leaving Ground” is of immediate interest. One could hardly call its time misspent, as the opening rush seems to hold back in the mix only to come in more fully around two minutes in, the layers of vocals that follow seeming less immediately concerned with getting to the chorus than exploring the textures surrounding. There is no posturing on I are Droid‘s part when it comes to trying to sound big, but “Leaving Ground” has its space all the same, and the more I hear it, the more satisfying the arrival of the full-breadth apex becomes, atmospheric tradeoffs between softer and more driving parts eventually leading to a lone guitar built to a last-minute crescendo that in a linear format signals the transition to an even more complex second half of the album, as “Odes” marks an immediate sonic shift with its drum-led progression and accompanying danceable (gasp!) programmed beats. Guitar hums in call and response with Bergstrand‘s vocals, but it really is Bergström at the fore, Lagergren dropping out and coming back for a rich, dreamy chorus that asks “What was life before we changed it all?” before shifting back to the verse, calm guitar offsetting some of the percussive tension. Not much has changed structurally — there’s still a strong chorus at work — but the mood has shifted with “Odes,” and “22:22” continues both the momentum and the string of aural surprises, tilting the balance more toward rock-minded fare while keeping a layer of ethereal guitar on the way to one of The Winter Ward‘s most satisfying payoffs, breaking around 2:10 to start the chorus from the ground up with extra modular synth added by Eric Väpengård and cap with a measure of thicker guitar before moving into late-album highlight “Constrict/Contract.”

A quiet opening launches into breathy vocals following a hi-hat hit from Bergström, as Bergstrand is most at the fore vocally in the verse, which moves fluidly into the chorus before a bridge marked by an undulating bassline from Lagergren bleeds into the verse. More languidly paced than the full-steam rushes of “Given is Given (Part I)” or “Kill it Good,” “Constrict/Contract” nonetheless moves in its last third to a quicker part that rounds out in a last run through the chorus that comes with the stirring realization of just how subtle the build has been all along. At 4:55, “Constrict/Contract” is also somewhat longer than the bulk of the tracks on the album, but closing duo “The Winter Ward (Part II)” and “Given is Given (Part II)” — that’s not a typo, they’re both part two — round out The Winter Ward in like form, the first of them opening with up-and-down synth before wide-open drums and insistent programming set a sort of bounce to work. Guitar seems all but absent from the verse, but arrives for the chorus in echoing post-rock fashion, adding to an already atmospheric pulse while Bergstrand‘s vocals hover over top. When the synth line returns, it does so on top of sustained guitar, drawing out a lead before dropping to low-end house bass thrust for the final verse. Vocals keep “The Winter Ward (Part II)” consistent with the rest of the album preceding, but by the time it arrives — particularly after “Constrict/Contract,” which it contrasts strikingly — there’s no upset in the album’s flow for this or any other change, such is the contextual base I are Droid have set up across The Winter Ward. You may not expect them to lean so hard to one side or the other, but if you’re willing to go with them as far as the penultimate track, that’s definitely not where you’re going to stop. They finish with “Given is Given (Part II),” which fittingly brings back the poppier aspects of the earlier cuts and blends them with the mindful atmospherics that have emerged as the album has played out. Like the bulk of the record, “Given is Given (Part II)” is a sonic tapestry that skillfully executes a layered approach, and although it’s less about providing a whole-album apex than reaffirming I are Droid‘s songwriting acumen and underscoring the scope they’ve been working with all along, there’s a satisfying conclusion all the same. There will be those alienated by The Winter Ward‘s multi-dimensionality either as a result of expectation given Bergstrand‘s tenure in Lowrider or its general lack of concern for where one genre ends and another begins (a trait others will find admirable), but whatever context the listener approaches from, I are Droid justify and reward open-minded attention with the skill they show in their songcraft and the accessible cohesion they’re able to enact throughout such transcendence.

I are Droid, “Given is Given (Part I)” from The Winter Ward (2013)

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