Review: Deleted Scenes - Lithium Burn
[Park the Van; 2014]
Rating: 7/10
By Sammi Nelson, Contributor
Key Tracks: “Haircuts Uniform,” “Let’s Not Try to Fix Everything At Once,” “Stutter”
Washington D.C. based indie-alternative rock band Deleted Scenes delivers an honest, personal account of life and its anxieties with its third full-length album, Lithium Burn.
It’s difficult to catalog the band’s sound under one category. Its music features a variety of textures and qualities that brush on numerous genres, featuring anything from blues to math rock. Their avant garde music features poetically confessional lyrics that not only paint images of their minds and hearts, but also reach out and gently grasp listeners as well.
The band’s 2009 debut album Birdseed Shirt was regarded as almost a masterpiece to media outlets like Pitchfork and NPR. Its sophomore album, Young People’s Church of the Air, was also held in high esteem and released to critical acclaim.
The albums display significant contrast in sound, but still contain the band’s essence, perpetuating a tell-tale confessional composition. Lithium Burn uses the same technique in its conception.
Deleted Scenes also collaborated with a few other notable producers on Lithium Burn: Brian McTear, a producer who has worked with The National, and Jonathan Low, a producer for Sharon Van Etten. These producers had prominent roles in the creation of “Let’s Not Try to Fix Everything At Once,” one of the most soul-scraping songs featured on the album.
Its lyrics identify feelings of hopelessness for the distant future. It’s honestly a great track for any college students jaded with unsurety after graduation, displayed most obviously in the lyrics “I’m not paying off my loans / I’m not saving up for a home.”
The album starts off fast-paced with “Haircuts Uniform,” an eclectic mixture of energetic noise, before it sets off on some heavy Americana and lighter blues elements afterwards. A good portion of the album’s music has a gentler, soft-rock vibe that is vaguely reminiscent of Death Cab For Cutie’s sound.
Deleted Scenes’ vocalist and guitarist Dan Scheuerman’s voice sometimes even sounds similar to Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard, including vague hints of Ben Folds in his style. Of course, this is only heard in some songs, such as “Let’s Not Try to Fix Everything At Once,” “Landfall” and “Tell Me a Secret.”
Lithium Burn’s lead single “Stutter” separates itself from the rest of the tracks through its uniqueness, which is surprising considering that the album is already vastly diverse. The song has a psychedelic acid-rock element in its production, warping it into an epileptic trip. Intentional record skips have been added to Scheuerman’s vocals, which give the song that extra-trippy experience.
Deleted Scenes are creating quite the name for themselves. The technique that they use is profound and progressive, and offers listeners a variety of styles in Lithium Burn. It’s essential for musicians to have a connection with their music in order for it to truly speak to fans, and Deleted Scenes do exactly this.
The band practically breathes its essence into the music, producing chest-squeezing poetry through lyrics that will grip a listener and won’t let go.
