In an age where digital music is supreme, album art is easy to lose in the shuffle. So perhaps when handed Belief in the Process, carefully pondering the mysteriously blue cast series of cylinder objects that look like a cross between buttons and compartments on the front cover, then flipping over to wonder why the album had divided itself into three parts for the track list and then even continuing to wonder over the selection of incomplete lyrics on the inside was a mistake. Yet, when considering the band is the Belated, then analyzing every little decision made on this record doesn’t seem so insane.
Kansas City’s the Belated is a rare breed in the city. While many of the new bands in the area are busy experimenting with electronic loops and whistles and other bizarre gimmicky sounds popularized by the hipster crowd out of Lawrence, the Belated is staying more traditional to the guitar-rich, lots of cymbal-crashing rock band sound. The band does have a nostalgic 90s sound (which isn’t that surprising when considering one of the members hosts a ’90s at noon’ radio show), but that isn’t to say the Belated is stuck in the past. No, what it does say is that the band is aware of the past and knows how to respect it. So perhaps, carefully examining something like album art isn’t so crazy for a band like this.
The album starts with the band’s first single, “Intelligent Redesign,” a song ripe with big rolling drum crescendos ending with even bigger cymbal crashes. A low bass riff trickles throughout the song. The pre-mentioned 90s vibe is most evident in the Soundgarden-like vocals. It’s a big song with a title that promises exactly what it delivers. The music video for the song says a lot about the band, too. A 90 percent serious video lightened with brief interludes of dancing from Kansas City’s favorite concertgoer.
From “Intelligent Redesign,” the band continues mixing broody vocals with even moodier instrumental patterns. The lyrics are dark, yet an aire of sarcasm and irony serve to lighten the mood rather than darken even deeper into a lyrical black hole. Just like the video, the band is mostly serious, but still fun. Singer Michael Richardson showcases phenomenal, dynamics as he goes from whispering “I Don’t Remember” to yowling down the scales like on “Someone – Somehow.”
The only problem with his vocals is that this is the element that is almost too unwavering. While the band, instrumentally progresses between bluesy riffs from the keyboard on songs like “Sacred” to the latina marching band sounds from the percussion on “Someone – Somehow” to the straight up rock on many of the others, the vocals seem stuck creating a slight tension. Yet, the diversity of the instrumental sound is something that is quite welcome on this album. The band shows that they are capable of engineering a new sound with just their skills and not modern music’s common desire to make “new” with computers. Sure, there are effects like reverb and echoed layering. There’s even the occasional synthesized string, but this is still very organic and fresh. They’re ranging from early Smashing Pumpkins to Silversun Pickups in the instrumentals and it works well for the Belated.
Though there are strong single possibilities with “Intelligent Redesign” and “Escalation,” the band crafted an album: not a collection of singles. Check the whole thing out, and yeah, the album art is significant. The album does seem to have three distinct sections. The first two thirds of the album is bigger than the last third, which serves as more of a catharsis by the time “Daily Rose” comes about. The selected lyrics are some of the more significant stand out lines in the songs. Yet as for the image and the arrangement of those lyrics? Those are best left to the imagination of the album’s owner.
As said before, the Belated is a rare breed not just for Kansas City, but for music in general. This is an album worth checking out.
The Belated is celebrating the album’s release this Friday, January 8 at Crosstown Station. They’re joined by fellow locals Nutchhatch 47 and Pet Comfort. Doors are at 8 and tickets are just $10. It is one of the first chances to see new drummer Stephanie Williams in action as well as hear the new tunes.
Track Listing:
01. Intelligent Redesign
02. I Don’t Remember
03. Sacred
04. Someone – Somehow
05. How Did You Know
06. Easy
07. Escalation
08. We Don’t Belong
09. Lazy Fascination
10. Wound
11. Daily Rose
I knew exactly who you were talking about when referencing the “dancing from Kansas City’s favorite concertgoer” but that didn’t make it any less awesome when I saw it with my own eyes. Nice review.