Growing up is never an easy prospect for rockers, but Oakland’s the Heavenly States handle the passage of time with understated grace and rock vet chops on their latest release, Oui Camera Oui. The follow-up to the stunning Delayer (the best album of 2008), this EP attempts to make sense of the frustrations of the world, both political and personal, through a series of sonic snapshots.
The triumphant “Berlin Wall” bemoans, “When we get well they sell another magic spell,” but the track’s underlying hope is reflected in the way it builds layer upon layer (with Spoon’s Britt Daniel singing backup vocals), growing ever larger until it bursts at the seams with anthemic bravado. Other songs like “Model Son” lament the exploitation of people in the American war machine, underscored with soft repeating coos of “woe, woe, woe.”
The soul of the The Heavenly States comes from frontman Ted Nesseth’s voice, which has a certain everyman quality to it. When rocking out, like on the chorus of “Oui Camera Oui,” his tone is playfully aggressive. But on “Monarchia” and “Hold My Little Baby” his lyrics are delivered with a vulnerable fragility, as if he’s toughing through the songs, holding back the emotional warble that wants to escape.
But Oui Camera Oui is hardly a grief-driven ride, as evidenced by the closer “Careful With That Review, Eugene,” where comedian Eugene Mirman reads viciously panning (and grammatically incorrect) reviews of Delayer. Sometimes dwelling on the ills of the world forces you to step back and have a laugh at it all in order to stay sane.
Review Score: 8.1
*Expanded from a review in The Pacific Northwest Inlander*
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