Director: “Reconnect”
First the impressive things: Hailing from a wee village outside of Dublin, Director have already managed realtively big time radio play in the UK and got some serious exposure opening for the Goo Goo Dolls on their most recent UK tour, despite the forever irreversible blow that last little tidbit will do to any indie cred the band may ever hope to attain. Furthermore, Director earn serious points having not only produced the “Reconnect” single, but their entire upcoming debut album, We Thrive On Big Cities, as well. Dudes even co-wrote and directed (appropriate considering the name) the video for the track. All impressive facts considering that for all their do-it-yourself gusto they manage an incredibly polished and professional aesthetic when all is said and done.
Not so impressive: “Reconnect” sounds like Editors covering Interpol covering Joy Division, which is to say, there’s not a hint of originality to be found anywhere here.
Thing is, as hard as it is to like for all the derivative-ass shit mentioned above, “Reconnect” remains a great track, all moody atmospherics with intelligent lyrics, a catchy-ass vocal structure and an awesome crescendo building up to an intense wall of sound rounding out the track at the song’s close. Though the general sound best compares with that of the bands listed above, “Reconnect” actually recalls The Stills’ “Still In Love Song” more than anything, with its penchant for huge crescendos, dark atmospherics and identical lyrical sentiment (”I want to reconnect with you”, “I’m stilll innnn lovvve” - same thing), only further impairing one’s ability to get excited by the track, considering the same song’s already been done before and it’s been done, well, better. That said, the amount of plays this thing’s gotten on my iPod doesn’t exactly match up with the harsh criticism leveled at it here because, original or not, it’s a great, catchy song, the perfect dark pop song for the waning light of autumn. The coming months should see Director blowing up, their major-label status and the surprisingly unanimous critical acclaim surrounding “Reconnect” and follow-up single “Come With A Friend”, and if history’s any indication, originality is pretty much the last thing the public cares about when it comes to making a band huge (*cough* Editors *cough*). Thus, the future’s looking bright for the Irish quartet, and keeping in mind how much of this band is completely do-it-yourself, you can’t say they don’t deserve it.
MP3: “Reconnect” - Director
October 26th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
Hey, I like the Editors. I do understand that in the UK they are being hyped up to the max tho. Here in the US (at least on the west coast), I don’t think they really caught on.
For some reason, this song reminds me of Kent crossed with Pulp (but more upbeat).
I like it alot though. It is damn catchy.
October 26th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I like Editors too - I mean, to me they have the vocals and some of the instrumentation of Interpol and the intensity and angularity (see: searing guitar riffs) of Bloc Party, so there’s no way I can go wrong with them, it’s just that I’m not down to give them any points for originality.
October 27th, 2006 at 6:07 am
link’s down man
heard the track before though, it’s a good one
have you heard of ‘the immediate’?
another really good irish band
‘delorentos’, ‘neosupervital’ and ‘pugwash’ all worth checking out too