I first heard Pianos Become The Teeth a few months ago and was immediately taken by their sound. It’s moody, somber, introspective, and brooding in a way that reminded me a lot of some of my favorite albums of all-time– the dark storytelling and enunciation of Jesse Lacey on Brand New’s The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me, the hazy dreaminess of the softer parts on Thursday’s War All The Time, and the ever-interesting math rock approach to clean guitars of Minus The Bear’s Omni. Lead singer Kyle Durfey’s poetic lyrics, delivered in his uniquely emphatic way, feel like they contain some secret knowledge on the meaning of life that he’s sharing with you as a listener. In the Venn Diagram of my musical tastes it hit pretty dead center and yet felt fresh and new. It’s a study in musical contrast that explores a wide spectrum of emotions, with themes of grief, love, and personal struggle all wrapped into an experience that has a cathartic intensity which cuts cleanly through the fog that envelops each song. There’s a nostalgic ache here that echoes strange hope– a resilience in the face of adversity that defines the message. As lead singer Kyle Durfey said in describing the band “I feel like most of us and most bands we are into tend to write about darker things. It’s hard to write when you’re happy. This doesn’t mean we aren’t happy as people.” And I couldn’t agree more.
Standout Songs: “Ripple Water Shine”, “Repine”, “Say Nothing”, “Lesions”, “The Queen”, “Late Lives”
