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Irving music review
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Irving Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers
Eenie Meenie Records
Yes, I know what you’re going to say. That a perfect score is ridiculous, that it takes an extraordinary album to get so high a rating, that this is a sophomore album, and we all know how terrible those are, right? You could bring up Irving’s over reliance on musical history, or their tendency for over-production, or the fact that all five members look ridiculously stylish. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Irving have crafted one of the catchiest, smartest, most engaging records of the year. And it deserves to be huge.
Track listing:
01 The Gentle Preservation Of Children's Minds
02 She's Not Shy
03 Jen, Nothing Matters To Me
04 Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers
05 I'll Write The Song, You Sing For Me
06 The Longest Day In The Afternoon
07 Situation
08 I Want To Love You In My Room
09 Care, I Don't Care
10 If You Say Jump, I Will Say No
11 Lovely, Just Like Her
12 Hard To Breathe
13 The Look Of Flowers That Are Looked At
From the Kinks charm of the title track to the 80s-synth-laced “She’s Not Shy,” this is an album that embraces the past - but great albums do. Instead, Irving takes hints of musicians past and weaves a web with them - see standout “Jen, Nothing Matters to Me.” After 3 and a half minutes, you realize that Irving have actually stumbled upon the perfect pop song. Good luck on their part. Lyrics like “I have a basic unwillingness to commit to anything substantial, and I am emotionally unavailable” combined with a Magnetic Fields sweetness make for a fantastic song - and it’s not the only one on the album. The morbid “I’ll Write The Song That You Sing For Me,” the power-pop confection “Situation,” and the retro “Care, Don’t Care” are just the highlights, but they’re all stunning.
Lyrically, there’s the surrealism of opener “The Gentle Preservation of Children’s Minds” (“Remember when they used to make us/wake up and spray all the blood from the flowers”) to the coyly charming “The Look of Flowers that Are Looked At” (“Nothing to do/But wish the fireflies would come home soon”). Each song has a different style, but the same paranoid, tense concerns - either loss of love or loss of lust, or simply loss. Musically, Irving manage to touch on Television, the Dandy Warhols, Beulah, and the Cure in just over 45 minutes. Worth a five out of five? You’re damn right.
