I thought I’d mix things up a bit on Swole Ear today.
Psych. Here’s another indie rock band. Yes, they are also playing at Lollapalooza.
And here comes another shocker.
I don’t like them very much.
I’ve complained about new wave before. Something that bothers me even more is when bands try to bring it back (does that make White Lies post-new wave? New new wave?) Look no further than the song Fifty On Our Foreheads, and you’ll see what I mean. There are enough annoying synths and cheeseball lyrics to make you not recall the ’80s quite so fondly. “The moonlight licked the face of danger/Innocence made us like soldiers/Untouchable and golden/The quilt of darkness dotted with our teardrops.” Oy.
Foreheads is essentially the entire record exaggerated. While nothing else reaches that level of awful (From the Stars comes close), that one song has everything that makes To Lose My Life… bad, all mashed into a single track. The record as a whole is boring, corny, and worst of all, uses the wrong kind of melodrama—actual, sincere melodrama. When this form of rhetoric (guess who just took an AP English test) is used as a form of self-mockery, I can totally get behind it; it’s often pretty funny. However, when it’s actual self-pity –not much gets more annoying than that.
Ultimately, White Lies is just yet another generic indie rock band that falls short. To Lose My Life… could have easily been made by The Bravery, which is by no means a compliment. White Lies not only bring nothing new to the table; they also emulate the really annoying stuff that’s already out there.
Swole Ear 