"This is how it works You peer inside yourself You take the things you like Then try to love the things you took And then you take that love you made And stick it into some, someone else’s heart Pumping someone else’s blood And walking arm in arm, You hope it don’t get hard, But even if it does, you just do it all again…"
-Regina Spektor “On the Radio”
It’s unusual to preface a review about a band and their music with a lyric from another musician’s song. However, in this case, it just makes sense because the lyric above captures the soul of what drives “Bazooka,” the latest release by Jealous Creatures, into your heart and gives it a permanent home in your music library.
It’s complicated
"Bazooka" is for everyone who’s been there. You don’t have to read Facebook statuses to understand relationships can be complicated. They can take the wind out of you, either at the hands of someone else, by your own doing or a little of both. Relationships, whether they’re between spouses, lovers, siblings, parents and children or friends should be entered into and traversed with caution and care because the path can easily become strewn with eggshells. It’s inevitable because everyone by nature is a jealous creature to some extent.
Yet, despite the frailty of relationships, you’re still drawn to them. Sometimes they work but more often than not, they take work and when they fail, you pick up the pieces and hopefully, a little wiser from the experience, you peer inside yourself, you move on and you just do it all again.
Musically speaking, Jealous Creatures have peered inside themselves and have the right idea when it comes to working through the pain and disappointments brought on by decisions made and missteps taken in relationships.
Baggage check
This four-piece Houston rock band (Sarah Hirsch - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, Ian Hlavacek - lead guitar, *Ruth Hirsch - bass and Josh Barry - drums) has discovered that the key to relationship happiness, or at least the secret to the next best thing - coping, is to try not to bump people in the back of the head with your baggage as you walk down that airplane aisle of life. Instead, you hold that baggage closely and securely. People are still going to catch a glimpse of what you’re carrying, but it won’t be banging them in the head and bringing them down.
Instead of bringing you down, Jealous Creatures seem to have revamped and made relevant an overused and outdated idiom involving fruit: When life hands you grief, make music. Sing and play through it. Heal yourself, heal others, enjoy life, and learn as you go. Don’t whine and mope or zombie-stumble through a string of relationships with an armload of grief while fretting about the bad ones. The only fretting should be between your fingers and the guitar, and there’s plenty of this at the hands of Hlavacek and Hirsch for your enjoyment on "Bazooka."
Jealous Creatures demonstrate that making music allows you to pour your heart and soul out to strangers who willingly come to listen to your anguish. As an added plus, you get to keep a certain level of ambiguity in the narratives of your songs so as not to conclusively betray your inner turmoil or most intimate feelings and thoughts - Just a glimpse of the baggage, not a blow to the head.
"Bazooka" is a glimpse of Jealous Creatures which proves music is the best therapy there is.
Bazooka’s-eye view
Don’t let this discourage you though. The album isn’t an overt confessional or exercise in self-pity and lyrical self-cutting. It doesn’t meander into Alanis Morissette gender hostility territory or into the Taylor Swift musical ex- files. The only pity here should be for those who have not yet discovered Jealous Creatures.
What "Bazooka" does, is bring everyone together and reassure them that they’re all in the same boat when it comes to relationships. "Bazooka" reminds you that relationships aren’t all unicorns and rainbows, but what is?
The album begins quietly and cautiously with "At the Time," a gentle, but assertive breeze of a song. It tiptoes up on you, not unlike the way you might enter into a relationship, leery of the potential complications, but you enter anyway because it seems like it’s the right thing to do at the time.
"Bazooka" quickly shifts into straight ahead rock and roll with tunes like "Painful to See," "Hurry Up," "Every Single Day," "The Right Idea" and "Debauchery on Bradford St." In their own unique way, thanks to the tightly interwoven and carefully executed guitar, bass and drums, these songs are a slap of cold water and a fire under your butt motivating you to count your losses, collect your stuff and move on. They give you the confidence and the strength to trudge on through the sometimes perilous waters of relationships and life.
"Bazooka" is also somber on the surface at times with songs like “Worn Down” as it expresses the toll relationships can take when they are at their lowest point. However, Hlavacek ignites this tune with an Ennio Morricone inspired, larger-than-life guitar riff which serves as a complimentary counter weight to Sarah Hirsch’s melancholy, yet powerful vocals. Hlavacek’s guitar work adds to the depth and texture of the tune by reminding you of the unrealistically epic importance and weight you can give to a relationship when you’re in it. It makes you wonder how anyone can think clearly when viewing a relationship from such a perspective.
Even when "Bazooka" is menacing and foreboding with darker songs like "Something’s Out There" and "Fall Tonight," there’s an accompanying glint of hope in their ambiguity. When you think about it, "Something’s Out There" could mean different things to different people, depending on their current situation and frame of reference. Is it something out there in the sense of something to be dreaded or feared as the ominous music suggests or something or someone out there better and more promising and fulfilling than what or who you have now? With "Fall Tonight," is it a song about falling in love tonight or falling as in stumbling or losing your footing so as to prevent any forward progress? Having just a glimpse, it’s up to you to decide, but this playful uncertainty is what gives "Bazooka" that extra punch and distinguishes it from other bands attempting to travel the same waters.
"Bazooka" ends like it began, quietly and gently with "So You’re Leaving Now," a song about the acceptance of an inevitable end delivered by Sarah Hirsch in a flawless female crooner style from another era. Is it the end of a relationship, the end of the album or both that can no longer be denied? Can a distinction really be made between the two? “So You’re Leaving Now” is an appropriate closing bookmark to the album. It’s a song so timelessly universal, your grandparents could have listened to it years before your own parents were born as they struggled with and navigated the rough waters of their own epic relationships.
With "Bazooka," Jealous Creatures may have created their own specialized musical genre.
Sedimental value
This genre could and should be called Sedimentary Rock. It’s characterized by intricately crafted, multi-layered songs with dual meanings and emotions formed over time by just the right experiences, influences and ingredients gathered from all the right places, eras and genres into an interconnected whole. You could scrutinize each of these layers in detail to get a better look at the baggage Sarah Hirsch, Ian Hlavacek, Ruth Hirsch and Josh Barry brought to the band or you could avoid the blow to the head and just grab a copy of "Bazooka." It will give you an ample glimpse of all you really need to know about Jealous Creatures for now.
*Since the release of the “Bazooka,” Ruth Hirsch has left Jealous Creatures and Meghan Anderson has become the newest member of the band.
Jealous Creatures will be performing live at the 2013 Houston Press Music Awards on August 4. To learn more about Jealous Creatures, visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.