Love of Everything - Best In Tensions
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Love of Everything has been around for over a decade now, but has always really been the brainchild of one Bobby Burg (Joan of Arc, Vacations, Make Believe). Here, along with his wife Elisse La Roche, Love of Everything has made a simplistic yet interesting album with Best In Tensions. It's an endearing mix of indie rock, lo-fi, and folk. It's vulnerable, raw, and genuinely forthright. It is a presentation of emotion in its simplest form, produced with generally nothing more than guitar and drums.
But like the simplest things in life, there's always a chance for complexity to interject itself. "I Love All You Guys" is built up through layers of guitar in various states (e.g. acoustic, droning). In a way, the layers of guitar end up individually embodying various personalities or feelings -- a sort of instrumental chorus singing along with Burg's lyrics. "Total Eclipse of the Heart (revisited)" works in much the same way, with swells of feedback serving as the emotional pull against the comforting and delicate sound of the clean guitar backbone of the song. It's songs like these that showcase Burg's knack for incorporating a diverse range of tones as a way to better express the emotions behind the music.
The album never gets too stagnant because the songs go from loud to quiet and quiet to loud, a journey marked by the ups and downs in life. "Fear of Missing Out" has a two-chord progression that works well and never gets dull, with a slightly tremolo'd tone a la surf rock guitar and group vocals that are smile-inducing and cathartic to sing along with. "Marry My Wife" has verses of melancholy that give way to a instrumental interlude of divergent, distorted guitar riffs that roar into an emotionally-charged vocal duet.
Most songs don't pass the two minute mark and that works in the album's favor. The brevity of the songs is where their allure lies; it is their strength as it allows the music to be much more direct and to the point. As Spanish baroque prose writer Baltasar Gracian once wrote, "Good things, when short, are twice as good."
Best In Tensions can at times sound a bit more like a collection of demos than completely formed songs, but it's more or less irrelevant when considering how it prevents the songs from ever coming across as if they're dragging along. It adds to their raw nature and gives the album an undeniable sense of intimacy. In fact, what's most enjoyable -- and best -- about this LP is its intimate nature. These songs sound like Burg's private ruminations and reflections about his life or life in general, especially with songs like the beautiful acoustic gem "Strip to the Sky."
At its core, Best In Tensions sounds like an album produced in a bedroom, meant for a few close friends. Instead, it was offered up to the world -- and it's a good thing we all get the chance to hear it. On account of its intimate nature, it's an honorable effort by way of its honesty. Love of Everything is a fitting band name as Burg ends the album singing, "When the ocean starts to cover our feet, we'll know we're happy." Burg and Best In Tensions help to remind us that it's the little things in life that matter most.
BUY: Pick up Best In Tensions right here.
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