Sleeper hits are nothing new to music, and rock in
particular. Bands will release a record, but due to extraneous circumstances,
they won’t gain mainstream attention for several years, until finally they
explode into the consciousness of a community as everyone is suddenly taken
aback and asks themselves ‘how the hell did we miss them?’ Now, usually this
happens with a breakthrough album – no one knew who the hell the Used were
until Lies for the Liars was released,
and the same goes for the Devil Wears Prada with the release of With Roots Above and Branches Below, but
it’s rare that an entire band passes under the radar and is only discovered two
years after its last record is released.
Such is
the case with Sacramento post-hardcore outfit Jamie’s Elsewhere. Debuting in 2005, the band released its last LP in
2010, with They Said a Storm Was Coming,
and proceeded to fall completely off the post-hardcore consciousness until
earlier this year, when they released an acoustic EP entitled Reimagined. Amazingly enough, despite
praise from Alternate Press, this too failed to establish a mainstream
foothold. Through a mixture of internet
music discussion boards, Pandora, and other media, Jamie’s Elsewhere finally
made their entrance this past summer, and still remain on the more obscure side
of post-hardcore today. Perhaps it’s because of their departure from Rise
Records last year, when they suddenly became an unsigned band which, to the
average audiophile, made them fairly interesting. On the other hand, it could
be because of their fluctuating lineup, which has changed almost as much as Woe Is Me since their inception.
For me,
this is completely shocking. Jamie’s Elsewhere as a band pack so much potential
and uniqueness into only two albums that I’m surprised they didn’t start
climbing the ladders sooner. Combining a mixture of subtle, atmospheric
synthwork, soaring vocals, and some phenomenal riffwork, their 2008 album Guidebook for Sinners Turned Saints took
post-hardcore staples, such as high vocals, breakdowns, and screams, and made
them infinitely more interesting. At around the same time Silverstein released
the unimpressive Arrivals and Departures,
Jamie’s Elsewhere were packing a punch with their own take on a genre that was
continuously evolving.
Energetic,
emotional, and ear-catching, Guidebook experiments
with all of post-hardcore’s hackneyed tropes and, for the most part, succeeds. Instead
of a chug-chug breakdown in ‘I Didn’t Mean To Interrupt’, we get a catchy lick
interspersed between the open chords. Riffs aren’t just combinations of bar
chords, but incorporate melodies, and blend with the synthwork seamlessly. Guidebook knows how to handle unclean
vocals, and uses them sparingly, instead giving frontman Aaron Pauley’s
fantastic vocals the spot they deserve.
Soft
breaks are nothing new in post-hardcore, but Jamie’s Elsewhere use a synth-heavy
background for their ballads, as exemplified in ‘The Saint, The Sword, and the
Savior’, or ‘The Prodigal’ with minimal interference from the bass and the
drums. Guitars play a muted role, sinking into the atmosphere of each song and
making a profoundly ambient experience that’s as soothing as it is fun, mostly
because it’s so different and unusual a jump from what’s before.
This
sense of innovation persists into They
Said a Storm was Coming, but with the added bonus that Jamie’s Elsewhere’s
lyrics have changed phenomenally for the better. That’s not to say that Guidebook’s lyrics were particularly
awful, but at times they were a little stilted and unoriginal. ‘Play Me
Something Country’ featured lyrics like ‘Watch me walk away./You’re falling
deeper than you’ve been before’, which, while not awful, lack pizzazz. A Storm
features masterpieces like The Lighthouse,
which combine Jamie’s Elsewhere penchant for instrumental fun with great
lyrics.
However,
it can’t be ignored that Jamie’s Elsewhere sound fundamentally similar to
Chiodos. Perhaps it’s the weight given clean vocals, or the fact that
breakdowns are riffs in and of themselves, but the comparisons are inevitable.
This, in and of itself, is unavoidable – both are post-hardcore bands, but
while it does subtract from the uniqueness of listening to Jamie’s Elsewhere,
they nevertheless manage to make a name for themselves. It’s subtle, but the
answer lies in the riffwork. Chiodos is relatively unimaginative in their
guitar writing, relying instead on rhythm and Craig Owens’ distinctive
falsetto. That’s fine, as it gives Chiodos their own particular sound, but
Jamie’s Elsewhere’s use of melodies and riffwork make the instrumentals sound
different enough to distinguish themselves.
Bottom
line, it amazes me that Jamie’s Elsewhere have flown under the radar for so
long. They’re a talented band that should deserve to be so much more popular –
a gem amidst the chug-chug mess that Rise Records has become. Unafraid to mix
acoustic love ballads with heartbroken screams, it’s this pioneering spirit
that should be getting them even further, but inexplicably is keeping them in
obscurity. Give them a listen and buy their album. You won’t regret it.
Listen to 'the Lighthouse' here:
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