Get lost and curious with Icarus The Owl and their Self Titled Album
It’s been a pretty busy week for me (Hurray!), and I’m very happy to say that I have been occupied and challenged with a variety of tasks. The biggest one will be the beginning of my new Facebook page for ‘Rancid Reviews!’ I already have social media pages and accounts for my illustration and artwork, but this is something I’ve been planning to do since I started writing music reviews again. I think it’ll be a good way to show myself off as a creative jack of all trades, Haha. If you’re interested in following me on Facebook, or you’re wondering about any other projects I might be up to, you’ll find links to my other social media at the end of this review.
In the meantime, to celebrate this new beginning and to answer back to the review I wrote last week about Blind Fool Love, today I’m going to be focusing on the band Icarus The Owl, and their self titled album. Icarus The Owl is a band that I’ve known about for a fair few years now. From 2014 to 2016 I was going through a period of exploring bands previously mentioned as Math Rock, Mathcore, and Progressive Rock, and I’m happy to say that at the time I found many brilliant acts. I did come across Icarus The Owl a fair few times during these years, but apart from listening to songs such as ‘Black Fish’ and ‘Skysweeper’ I can’t really say they made a huge impact on me. Well, this week I’m going to change that. I’ve listened to their 2014 self-titled album (Several times) and now I’m ready to talk about it. But first, let me give you a breakdown of who these guys are.
So Icarus The Owl is a four-piece band from Oregon who came about in 2009, but the reason you may not have heard of them until recent years is because of their long-standing early career and hard work within more substream avenues. A lot of their live shows are usually very intimate affairs, and their first four studio albums were released independently. But eventually, the band would decide to sign with ‘Blue Swan Records’ owned by Will Swan, the lead guitarist of Dance Gavin Dance. It’s a little difficult to put into words what kind of band Icarus The Owl is because when I listen to them, there are so many different components to their music. I suppose you could say that they’re Progressive Rock, and that would probably be the most accurate suggestion, but when you listen to an entire album by this group, you realise they can’t really be classified as just one thing.
Their musical arrangement puts them into the same sort of category as bands like The Fall Of Troy, Chiodos, and A Lot Like Birds, these being Post-Hardcore bands who have Progressive and Math based influences within their discography. On the other hand, their lyrical content and rhythm section gives you a bit of a Punk Rock flavour, not too dissimilar from bands like Bayside or Alkaline Trio. Even then the vocals from the lead singer, Joey Rubenstein, remind me a lot of bands such as Pierce The Veil or Sleeping With Sirens, who both have high pitched, Pop-Punk like vocals. You can’t really tie these guys down to one genre. They are Progressive Rock and Math Rock. But they’re also Post-Hardcore, and Pop-Punk and god knows how many other genres. Their self-titled album is probably one of the most mature examples of that, at least within their independent catalogue.
I had to listen to this album a few times over this week, just so I could get an understanding of what I’d gotten myself into. Only now do I realise how big a task this actually is. Oftentimes when I listen to a song, I tend to focus more on the actual music than the lyrics written by the artist. Music has its own kind of language that anyone can understand and interpret in their own ways, which is probably why I have little issue with listening to international bands. But when you have profound and free-flowing, incredible music and instrumentation, side by side with specific, creative, and opaque lyrics, it can be difficult to know what a song means to you from your own perspective. You could pick up on certain composition elements and think of something that makes sense to you, like… Trains for example. But when you listen to the lyrics, you begin to find yourself being carried along by what they’re trying to tell you, taking you away from what you originally conceived. I think the best way to inspect this album would be to take these components apart and talk about them separately.
So the music first! Typical of most Progressive bands we have the jittery thumping of the bass, and the bubbling flourish of the Lead and Rhythm guitars respectively, while the drum rolls and kicks along with the frequent changes in tempo. These instruments are accompanied by high pitched but grounded vocal talent that can flow, rise, fall and extend or pause as necessary, which can bring a snazzy or emotive personal flair to any part of a song.
Rather than going for the usual Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus format, this band weaves structures together in a very unique way. Sometimes a song starts with a chorus and then spreads them out with different alternations of verses and bridges, like in songs ‘Crimson Coloured Walls’ and ‘Black Fish’. Sometimes the band will play an intro or a first verse reflective of a different style like Folk, Alternative, Indie, Acoustic, or even Reggae, before jumping into a fast-paced Progressive stream. This might include songs such as ‘Touchstone’, ‘The Monster Within’, and ‘Dethroned’ as well as others. Some songs like ‘Chronus, The Destroyer’ and ‘Ignore The Check Engine Lights’ might also include a bit of a chugging Post-Hardcore feel to them, (Which reminds me a lot of trains) while others like ‘Aeternum’ deviate more towards Pop-Punk sweetness. You may not agree with me on these classifications, and that’s fine. These are mostly hypotheses. I think every song on this album has a little something different splashed into the mix, but it always returns to its Progressive Pop-Punk emotion.
The music on this album, and by Icarus The Owl in general, is absolutely gorgeous! It amazes me how this band has a natural talent for combining the soulful and beautiful with Punk and Hardcore racing. I also love that the band never really deviates too deep into using screamed vocals, but commonly rely on the tortured lamb like the singing of their lead singer, while occasionally including backing vocals and soft harmonised crooning where needed. The fact that the band mainly uses singing rather than screaming takes very little away from the punch and heaviness of the music, but rather soothes and smooths down its wild edges. If I were to be critical however, I would say that there are times when it’s difficult to follow along with what a song is trying to do with itself. As is rather typical of any good Progressive/Math band, you do have to accept it’s over the top technicality. I would also point out that the album does have a tendency of feeling a little long-winded and overly self-indulgent at times. You might catch onto some familiar songs you really like, while others in the middle feel a little too distant and boring. Other times certain sections sound a little too sugary and sweet which might be a problem for some. However, I think it would be a little unfair to make too many critical comments on this album’s artistic directions when the band is so masterful of its own conventions.
Now let’s get into the lyrics, and fair warning, I might struggle with this part a little bit. I honestly don’t know what was going on here, or what the ideas were with the lyric writing. If anyone does know, please tell me, because I’m actually really curious. The writing of the lyrics by this band is actually incredible. They demonstrate a real mastery of the use of words, and every song seems to speak in its own way of phrasing. The verses and rhymes used are creative, if a little outlandish, but this shows the lack of barriers and an abundance of imagination. I think when paired with the flow of the music, the lyrics have a feel of something very different from the usual convention of songwriting, and tends to feel more like people are having a conversation or the singer is telling a fantastical story. At least that’s how I think of it. There’s always one or two phrases from a song that will stick with you, whether because the way it’s sung to you clicks with how you speak or how you think, or it’s just so unusual that you don’t really know what to make of it. And that’s something I’m struggling with here!
I don’t understand what’s going on! I don’t know what the writing process is or how it might relate to the lead singer. Usually, the bands I listen to will write songs about their own personal experiences or thoughts, which make the songs very introspective and easy to relate to. Other times I will hear songs that are telling a narrative story, whether from the band’s favourite books or movies, or their own made-up characters. But with Icarus The Owl, it’s a little hard to tell where their writing source comes from. I can’t imagine that every song they write about comes from their own personal experiences, but the way they’re written are very introspective and personal, so it makes me wonder whether there is something furtive linking the writer with the source material. It often feels like there's a lot of anger under the surface of what’s being sung too. I could actually imagine these lyrics being yelled or shouted to someone that you’re having a fight with. Other times the lyrics come off as mocking or even a little bit obnoxious, making the speaker sound like they’re up their own arse, but then it probably makes sense if they are singing from a character’s perspective rather than from their own. I could probably rant on about these lyrics all day and not really get anywhere with it, so I’ll just leave it like this. If you’re like me and mainly focus on the music side of things, then just stick with that. If however, you hear a phrase that sounds curious to you, look up the lyrics sometime and give them a read. One thing is definitely for certain; you’ll never be bored hearing or reading them.
I’m really glad that I decided to do this. While I do like to try and listen to stuff outside of my comfort zone that’s a little different, it’s often easy to ignore some groups, or label them as either not my thing, or not really that amazing. Icarus The Owl is actually a really good band and I can imagine that a lot of people would be drawn to giving them a listen. If you decide to try their self titled album, I think it’ll be very hard not to find at least one song you love. My personal favourites so far would probably include ‘Chronus, The Destroyer’, ‘Input Time Destruct’, ‘Crimson Covered Walls’, and ‘Ignore The Check Engine Lights’. Fair warning, however, do be patient with the album. Sometimes it can be a bit long-winded and it might take a little while and few listens for it to click into place. I find that the worst song, which happens to be the most self-indulgent, is the first track, ‘The Pharmacist’. It’s not so much that it’s bad, as it is that it feels like a test for listeners. Just get past that song and then see how you go with the rest of the album. If you give it a chance and don’t give up on it after the first eight minutes, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
So for making me want to listen to more of their music, and reawakening my inner Math Rock Kid, I’m going to give Icarus The Owl a 9/10. For challenging and sometimes annoying me, but rewarding me for my efforts, I’m going to give their self titled album an 8.5/10. I look forward to listening to this album more, and who knows maybe it’ll become a new favourite for me.
Thank you so much for reading this review, and if you’ve been following my work over the last few weeks, I hope I’ve been serving you well. I think I found this week’s review a bit of a challenge, but hopefully next week it’ll fall into place a little easier. I’m looking forward to getting more readers as I start my own Facebook page, and also continuing to work alongside Kevin and Steve of Music Crush Monday Podcast, which by the way, you should go and listen to! Like I said before, I’ll be leaving links to my other social media down below, so I hope you enjoy them too. Anyway, I think my work is done here for now. I’ll see you all next week!
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