Saxon Shore
The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore
When Saxon Shore, a band out of Philadelphia, uses the phrase "The Revolution will be Streaming" as the name of the first song on its disc
The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore
, it's easy to consider it a commentary on the democratizing nature of the Internet, or perhaps a reference to overturning the music industry by virtue of free and
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illegal downloads. As Saxon Shore provides no lyrics, the listener can't truly be sure, but the album itself indicates there's something more subtle going on than just politics.
Take the opening number: What's streaming is a layered symphony of sound effects, chiming guitars and sparkle-y drums. As with all of this disc, "Revolution" is a musical reverie, and as such speaks to the idea that rebellion-against the confines of pop music, against traditional song structure, against tired format-is really the subject here. As songs glide seamlessly into each other, tracks like "This Shameless Moment" and "The Shaping of a Hopeless Joy" bob and fold back in on themselves like waves. There are triumphant piano lines and zingy synthesizers, and, instead of being weighed down by instrumentation, they are buoyed by the freeing nature of wordless tunes. And, more important, they are thus unconfined by verse-chorus-verse monotony that lyrics necessitate.
Perhaps, then, this is the revolution: Soaking in warm post-rock glitchy music, unfettered by pop convention, is the new punk. Whether or not you download it is up to you.
Saxon Shore will play with From Monument to Masses, Dimson Witmer, The Cherry Tempo and others at 6:30 pm, Tuesday, July 18 at Warehouse 21 ($5).
