Jaguar Love – Take Me to the Sea

“There’s screaming on this album, lots of it…nay, way too much.” — [Filter, Summer 2008, p.102]

“[O]n most of the other occasions when Votolato’s choppy riffs and off-beam melodies threaten to seduce you, Whitney’s caterwaul butts in again.” [Mojo, Sep 2008, p.110]

johnny whitney’s voice is off-putting for the uninitiated. i’m not patting myself on the back for being a fan, and i’ll be the first to admit that his voice has the same desctructive powers as a banshee, but what i’ve noticed is that a lot of reviews are too preoccupied with his screaming to make note of his awareness of the abrasive qualities that his vocals have-– an integral part of what informs take me to the sea’s ideology. the second song on the record, “bats over the pacfic ocean,” — one that i’ve discussed here before— has whitney poking fun at himself, saying: “i got evicted from this song/ oh my voice is deformed.” conceptually, the abrasive qualities of music are suggested to act as counters to the otherwise apocalyptic vision that unfolds over the course of take me to the sea. there is a weighty feeling  that death is inevitable throughout the album, particularly on songs like “humans evolve into skyscrapers,” but then another song like “my organ sounds like…” will draw on music’s ability to invigorate, to charge people into making change. i wouldn’t call this a “political” album per se, as it is not so much of an indictment of any particular institution. as far as i can tell, take me to the sea is a rallying call, made by a group of older post-punkers who have succeeded at finding a more mature sound and balancing that with the same tumultuous energy that made their respective works so great to listen to.

Filed under: Album Review , 2008, jaguar love, johnny whitney, pretty girls make graves, take me to the sea, the blood brothers