album review: parts & labour, constant future
When I was approached about reviewing Constant Future, the fifth studio album from Brooklyn-based noise rock band Parts & Labour, I was expecting a mediocre and at times unbearable sonic journey. Lately when I go to random local live shows or decide to go try a new dive bar, I start to wince as searing, spacey guitar riffs begin. I like experimental rock as much as the next person, but sometimes I get bored because so much of this red-hot genre sounds remarkably similar. I hate to lump things into generic categories like that, but it becomes difficult to hear the same thing over and over and call it “good”.
The more and more I listened to Parts & Labor’s Constant Future though, the more I realized that there is a lot more than empty noise in noise rock. In a vein similar to Akron/Family, Parts & Labour masterfully blends traditional indie rock and electronica to create a remarkably fresh psychedelic, experimental album.
Parts & Labour has created a sound that ultimately equates to folk for the digital age. Constant Future has none of the mainstream sensibility or the softer moments of Akron/Family’s S/T II, but it’s a solid, comprehensive noise rock album in its own right.
Constant Future opens with “Fake Names”, a song that begins with a riff similar to that Wolfmother song on the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack but quickly progresses into something louder, more electronic and rock-and-roll. “Fake Names” is the perfect microcosm for Constant Future – the sound can at times be overwhelming, but somewhere in between the electronic explosions, keyboard loops and heavy drums there is always a tangible melody that unifies the whole album.
Perhaps my favorite part of listening to the album recently has been hearing the distinct influences on Constant Future. The vocal production and stylistic choices on “Bright White” and “Skin and Bones” remind me of the The Adventures of Pete & Pete theme song in the best way possible. Reminiscent of the literary device called conceit, Parts & Labour explore extended metaphors on electro-rock-art rock-noise jam “Hurricane”. This song’s poetic tendencies and constant tempo changes make it one of the standout songs on Constant Future. Like title track “Constant Future”, “Hurricane” has unexpected noise progressions and collapses on itself in the strangest of places, but what makes the music so enjoyable is being able to hear that same underlying melody that unifies the whole album.
Is there a kind of feeling of completion you get when the album ends? Not really, but Constant Future is plain old good music – I listened to the whole album through about ten times before I even started to pick it apart for this review. Constant Future easily transforms from being the kind of album that can blow your speakers to the kind of album that’s always in your rotation. Keeping those lines blurry is what’s so interesting. Parts & Labour is definitely onto something, that this is where new music is going.
Constant Future (and its amazingly beautiful website) is available now from Jagjaguwar Records.
