Timeshares – Bearable (Kiss of Death Records/Kind of Like Records)
What strikes me most about Bearable, the new full-length album from Timeshares, is the depth and texture of the recordings. This group of four clowns from New York have taken a sound that is constantly on the verge of becoming stale and repetitive (that is to say: bands that sound like Latterman), and made it relevant again with ambitious songwriting and impeccable studio work.
Timeshares – Bearable (Kiss of Death Records/Kind of Like Records)
What strikes me most about Bearable, the new full-length album from Timeshares, is the depth and texture of the recordings. This group of four clowns from New York have taken a sound that is constantly on the verge of becoming stale and repetitive (that is to say: bands that sound like Latterman), and made it relevant again with ambitious songwriting and impeccable studio work.
Their dynamics are simply more pronounced than other bands that play a similar style, and that sets them apart. They aren’t afraid to take the gruff, positive, driving beats that make punk rock so rewarding for so many people and combine them with softer, cleaner vocals, intricate guitar leads, and layered harmonies. It’s at times a little like Hot Water Music has been mashed up with the Weakerthans–an interesting combination to process, but ultimately very, very good.
Bearable is also lyrically impressive. I’m going to go ahead and throw journalistic objectivity out the window here, because let’s be real, it doesn’t exist, and you’re kidding yourself if you think it does. I lost a dear friend a few weeks ago, around the same time I started giving this record a more prominent place in my regular rotation. Track one, “From an Admirer, Not Darryl,” closes with the lines: “I live my life in fear of knowing I could have lived each day a little better,” and those words helped me pull myself out of the depression that such a tragic loss had thrown me into. I’ve always championed the idea that the best art speaks honestly to the human condition, and lines like that, along with others throughout the record, place Timeshares into an upper echelon. This is an intelligent, fun, and intensely personal record. Download it for free from www.ifyoumakeit.com or order the vinyl from either Kiss of Death Records or Kind of Like Records.
