Thursday
'A City By The Light Divided'
Island/Universal

Thursday, one of emo's greatest hopes of attaining artistic credibility, nearly broke up after the release of 'War All The Time' in 2003, citing that they hadn't made enough of a progression since the breakthrough 'Full Collapse'. That said, when they announced 'A City By The Light Divided,' they made a lot of lofty promises and faced the huge weight of expectation. Every time I listen to it my opinion swings from 'achingly beautiful' to 'weak and superficial.' It's definitely a complex record.

Here's the conclusion I've come to: Thursday have simply spent too much effort developing their sound and the songwriting has suffered. At first the changes seem superficial - a quiet, atmospheric interlude in opener The Other Side Of The Crash/Over And Out (Of Control) doesn't change the fact that it is almost the same as Understanding In A Car Crash, in both subject matter and style. But, as the album progresses, choral backing vocals, distorted bass lines and a touch of synthesiser drive proceedings towards dark '80s pop territory, evoking bands like Joy Division, The Cure and even early U2. The highlights are the anthemic Telegraph Avenue Kiss ("K-I-S-S/I'm in distress!") and fascinating The Lovesong Writer. But despite these interesting new directions, 'A City By The Light Divided's' songs lack potency. The lyrics are surprisingly weak, as the bitingly angry socio-political themes are replaced by self-conscious, post-modern lovesongs, all told through oblique but well-trodden metaphor

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great record. I'm taking it all very seriously, but only because Thursday take themselves so seriously. And considering that, are they really satisfied with this?

Matt Vesely