Album Reviews: The Devil Whale – Teeth

Hailing from Salt Lake City, The Devil Whale are a rather low-profile band that have been cranking out formulaic indie rock since their debut from 2008, Like Paraders. After an EP in between then and now, the five-piece troop have dropped their sophomore album, Teeth. It is safe to say that guitarist, singer, and songwriter Brinton Jones, has continued the trend of writing thoughtful lyrics accompanied by layered, quirky instrumentation. This time around, Jones has ultimately found this style to be his niche, and the band being his brainchild, follows this equation almost mechanically.

Listen to “Barracudas”

Barracudas from Tonality Magazine on Vimeo.

The Pros

Let it be known that The Devil Whale have worked very, VERY hard on making this album. Every song from opening to close features flawlessly executed orchestration. No instrument is ignored here. Equality is spread amongst drums, bass, two guitars, and a wonderful keyboard. The production value compliments the elaborate working of each song by letting the listener know what each band member is doing, in addition to how well they are doing it.

As musically impressive as this album is, it is impossible to run through these tunes without noticing Brinton Jones’s insightful, often witty, and personal lyricism planted within each gem of a song. I find myself incapable of not feeling genuine bliss during the chorus of “Golden.” Yet, Jones can easily shift from sanguine refrains like, “Close your eyes and it disappears,” to deeply private confessions such as, “She’s only famous ’cause she slept with all my friends.” This discrepancy in moods illuminates Brinton’s expertise, and his ability to jump from Elliott Smith-esque downers to the brighter parts of a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album.

The Cons

While Brinton Jones does his best to flaunt his talent for songwriting, the penmanship tends to run into foul territory on occasion. Syllable use seems uneven from time to time and a few too many slant rhymes come into play. By no means can the writing ever be considered amateur; like I said, it is quite impressive. However, some menial kinks can be found within his prose.

Apart from this, two songs on Teeth pull an almost pointless trick on the listener by holding on to the final chord, note, what have you; and droning on as such for what turns out to be a good fraction of the song. Specifically, the songs “Magic Numbers” and “Earthquake Dreams” take part in this unnecessary and minor offense, althought they are initially great songs. This doesn’t ruin anything, but it instead weakens their potential and leaves you wondering as to why they had to end that way.

The Verdict

I really must hand it to The Devil Whale. The crew clearly put a lot of effort into this release, exemplifying mature, yet playful lyrics that rival the great Ben Gibbard, as well as a cohesiveness as a band that resembles My Morning Jacket. The Devil Whale is archetypical in every sense of the modern indie rock scene, while simultaneously retaining a sound that defines them from the rest of the herd. Teeth is as promising of its creators as it is an enjoyable listen.