Old Major, …With Love: Picking Lightning Flowers
Depending on how you want to look at it, Old Major‘s …With Love is either their first album or their third release. It’s the Toronto trio’s debut on respected Russian imprint R.A.I.G., and it’s definitely a full-length at 54 minutes long, but it’s also compiled from two prior outings, 2013’s In Dog Years, from which the first seven (in order) of …With Love‘s total 12 tracks and the closer come, and a preceding 2011 self-titled, from which another four songs and the unlisted presumed bonus cut “Fanning Flames” are taken. Recordings span from 2009 to 2013, and the trio of guitarist/vocalist Mark Zerenyl, bassist/vocalist Mike Kennedy (since replaced by Alex) and drummer Joey Pavone show palpable growth in that time. The earlier material on …With Love, particularly in the context of knowing the songs are culled from past releases, sounds more developed and cohesive, Old Major having apparently mastered the post-Queens of the Stone Age start-stop bounce, where earlier cuts — which here are later in the tracklisting; stay with me — vary wider in feel but are less assured overall of their direction. It’s a tradeoff that makes Old Major come across as more mature for the first seven (and the 12th) tracks, their personality more prevalent, while what would be the bulk of a “side B” in a magical land where you could fit 54 minutes onto a vinyl platter serves to expand the scope of the release overall. So, with …With Love, you do get a release that functions as a full-length album, it just takes a quirky route to get there.
All the more suitable to the material on the disc itself, then, since Old Major demonstrate no shortage of quirky sensibilities in the music. It’s a noteworthy endorsement for In Dog Years that its first seven songs are presented in the same order here and that its closer remains the closer (pre-bonus cut) on …With Love. Doesn’t say much for the songs they left off, but it indicates that the trio believe they’re on the right track to where they want to be. The four songs from their self-titled are more jumbled, beginning with the “You Let Us,” which was the penultimate cut on Old Major before moving into the first three tracks, “Spel Chek,” “Wagoneers” and “Elbows Out,” the latter of which seems to have been a blueprint for much of the In Dog Years songwriting, with its particularly QOTSA jangle and smooth, dry vocal approach. Opener “Heels and Hooves” shows a drive toward complexity immediately, with intricate shifts to mesh with a penchant for hooks that becomes a staple of Old Major‘s style, along with an assortment of ’90s influences from Primus on the self-titled’s “Spel Chek” — the splash cymbal at the apex is telltale — to Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ quieter side on “Lightning Flowers,” which is the last of the In Dog Years inclusions and departs from the fuzzy drive of “In Dog Years” (a highlight and the longest at 6:38) and the more forceful “Rhino” to a subdued feel that still keeps some of its funk, particularly in Kennedy‘s bass. The earlier momentum of “Snake Charmer,” “Lint Giver” and “Epsom Salts” — the last of which finds the guitar just a little higher than it needs to be in the mix in leading a softer start-stop progression — carries through the rest of …With Love, however, and once Old Major get going, they don’t stop.
Moving up “You Let Us” to follow “Lightning Flowers” makes sense, since the guitar intro works well as a wakeup call after the quieter track, and builds well into the second portion of the album. There is a shift in the recording — drums, guitar tones, bass tones are rougher-edged — but it’s not jarring, and Old Major‘s songs are diverse enough that the increased backing vocals in “You Let Us” are no more out of place than the xylophone, or than the twanging guitars are on “Wagoneers.” The three-piece teach their audience to expect these things, so when they come, it’s still a surprise but it doesn’t necessarily pull one out of the overall forward movement being undertaken. Both “Spel Chek” and “Elbows Out” carry a rhythmic insistence and falsetto vocals, but the former is heavier tonally and the latter poppier feeling, Zerenyl at his most Homme-esque in the verses, the drums later leading the way out and back into In Dog Years with a fade into a synth beat — kind of an awkward transition, but okay — and the closer that works well in that capacity on …With Love enough to earn its place, pulling away from some of the linear build in “Spel Chek” and “Wagoneers” and “Elbows Out” to return to softer alt-rock explorations. “Fanning Flames,” which isn’t listed on the CD but appears on the download, rounded out Old Major‘s self-titled and makes a suitable bonus, with a shouted chorus and brooding sort of intensity, still within the stylistic reaches of the other songs, just meaner. The real tell will be where Old Major go with their next full-length and their next batch of new material, but as an introduction to the band — it was mine — …With Love showcases a trio with a growth in progress and the potential to create something of distinct pop flair and a persona of its own still rooted in the heavier end of rock.
Old Major, “Snake Charmer” official video
…With Love at R.A.I.G.’s Bandcamp
Tags: Canada, Old Major, Old Major With Love, Ontario, R.A.I.G., Toronto, With Love
