After the release of
This Is What I Know About Being Gigantic, Minus The Bear began
work on their first full length album. Before that there would be
another EP called Bands Like It When You Yell “Yar!” At Them,
which is a statement I can't confirm, but the band are probably
better suited to make such a claim anyway. I didn't want to review
that one because unlike ...Being Gigantic, that one was
primarily a preview EP, sharing two of the songs on the full album as
well as a demo version of a song. There are only two unique tracks
and it is under 4 minutes of material, though I will say that I enjoy
them.
Highly Refined Pirates
is an album that has really stuck with me over the years in a way
that I would not have anticipated when I first heard the material. A
friend of mine sent me the opening track “Thanks For The Killer
Game of Crisco® Twister,” which I enjoyed quite a bit. It
encapsulates what kind of music the band were making at this time;
songs about partying, good times, and women, but in a strangely
tactful way compared to much of pop music. It is the most pure
example of their double-tap guitar playing method and the distinct
sound it makes. I remember that after that I wanted to hear more
songs so she sent me a few more from the album. I must confess that
I wasn't initially impressed, but that changed very quickly. At
first it seemed that most of the songs sounded the same, and I can
see why I thought that to some degree. There is a very consistent
tone to the album and their sounds takes a little bit of getting used
to. It didn't take long though before the songs grew distinct and I
started to really appreciate each of them.
While their sound is
consistent, it is very flexible. They constantly avoid formula and
play around with structure and different time signatures. A great
example of this is the track “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey
Warehouse” which has a long, swelling minute long introduction
before the song really gets into the content, and it works well to
build the song up.
There are also several
instrumental transitional tracks, but quite different than the ones
on This is What I Know About Being Gigantic in that they tend
to be quite brief and don't delve too much into electronic music,
relying more in gentle guitar work and ambiance. They are well spaced
out in the album and give the listener gentle breaks from their fast
paced songs. Also, a couple of them contain reverences to Starship
Troopers in the titles, a movie the band must be fans of.
One of the album
highlights is the phenomenal “Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo”
which has been a favourite song of mine for years. I can't express
my enthusiasm for this track enough. The lyrics talk about insomnia
and the stresses of modern life and the lines in the chorus are so
catchy, clever and relatable that you can't help but remember them:
“You said, 'my life's like a bad movie.' I said 'that's true of all
of us.'” It also marks one of the only songs by the band that has
a female back up singer, which adds an interesting uniqueness to the
song. The song goes through so many movements that just feel so
natural that one can forget to admire the superb songwriting that
went into the creation of it because, above all else, it's fun and
easy to connect with.
It is followed by the
more romantic and nostalgic “We Are Not A Football Team” which is
a much slower, but very welcome track. It shows a different, more
contemplative side of the band. This is also reflected in one of
their later tracks “I Lost All My Money At The Cock Fights” which
explores the excitement of a brand new attraction. The song starts
off calm and collected, but near the end it changes quite
dramatically into a high energy finale.
The album has a great
final act as their charming instrumental “Andy Wolff” skips
gleefully into the final(ish) track, “Let's Play Guitar In A Five
Guitar Band.” This is one of the most emotionally driven songs on
the album as its a reflection of a lost love and the emotions that
appear when one is suddenly faced with that person again, if even in
passing. I've been in such a situation, as I imagine many have, and
it always seems to cause a great amount of self reflection. What's
great about the lyrics of the song is that they are relatively
simple, but really capture that feeling, while remaining specific
enough that it feels like a single person's experience, not some all
encompassing emotional dump. It feels real. On a more musical note,
the guitar work in the chorus is brilliant, moving at such a fast
paced, with such great precision that it actually reminds me of some
of the guitar work in the 1980's King Crimson. It's a great way to
bring the album to a climactic finish before it leads into the short,
instrumental closer “Booyah Achieved” which just feels like a
brief epilogue, carrying some of the same musical ideas from the last
song. It's a nice little touch.
Other great songs on
the album are “Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!" and “Women We
Haven't Met Yet” which I felt would be an injustice to not mention.
I can see why they starts to drift away from the long silly song
titles though because some of these songs I can't recall which one is
which simply because they have nothing to do with the song. They're
all so funny and memorable that they no longer feel as memorable when
they're together. Strange how that works.
What is great about
Highly Refined Pirates is how the songs on here come across as
very fun and simple rock songs at first glance, but even now as I
critique them years and years after first hearing them, I'm finding
more to enjoy about them. Minus The Bear's song writing is actually
quite bold, avoiding clichés and formulas, but never coming across as
pretentious. It never feels like they discard what feels natural for
the song for the sake of being innovative and good on them for that.
I think that Highly Refined Pirates was one of the best
releases in 2002 and a debut album well worth remembering. Minus The
Bear have evolved quite a bit since then and have had some highs and
lows musically, but even their lows aren't really that low. I've
enjoyed all of their albums to some extent or another, but this one
remains my favourite of theirs. As far as having songs that I
connect to and have impact on me, these are the best of the bunch.
You should give it a listen if you haven't already and check out
their latest album Infinity Overhead to
see where they've gone to in ten years.
5 Stars
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