This dynamic, hard-rocking album from This Beautiful Republic should make quite a noise when it hits. Serving up eleven tracks of great power and diversity, co-written by the band and producer Allen Salmon (Mute Math). There’s an emphasis on fat, anthemic choruses, thundering guitars, and potent lyrics, and the set has the smoothest of flows to it, not surprising considering the band’s focus on live shows. Says frontman Ben Olin, the songs “are written with the live show in mind. We want the crowd to be able to partake in this and grab hold of it. We intend to make the music about the listener, not just ourselves.”
That outward focus drips from the articulate lyrics of this debut. The cleverly-written “Black Box,” a feverish punk track, challenges listeners to consider what the last moments of our own black box recorder might reveal, the track’s pounding rhythms underscoring the urgency of a plane spiraling down. On dynamically nuanced standout track, “Let’s Be Honest,” TBR lays it out cleanly: “I sing because I don’t know what to do…..I’m so desperate to feel Him,” both its authenticity and its rhythms solid as a sledge-hammer.
Equally robust in a softer format, TBR’s “New Year” courses with melodic sound and killer vocals, and the ambient booming closer, “Cloud Cover,” will transport you to a place of wonder.
This Beautiful Republic is a band committed to its live shows, where the thrashing guitars and howling vocals of “Going Under” would be electrifying, and the intense call-out of the blistering “Something to Deny” impossible to resist. TBR (lead singer Ben Olin, Drummer Andy Smith, Guitarist Jeremy Kunkle, bassist Brandon Paxton, and guitarist Adam Smith) exhibits intelligent control, as does producer Salmon, mixing the thundering strings and booming vocals always with balance, without losing a drop of the band’s fervency. “Even Heroes Need a Parachute” will have the rock world sitting up and taking notice this April 3rd, for all the right reasons.
