album of the week: 4.2

†††

††

(2012)

why you'll love it: The perfect bridge between artsy depressing electonica and radio-friendly rock

why you'll hate it: Vague lyrics, not very attention grabbing

I got into the (then) hardcore/nu-metal band, Deftones, when I was a dumb kid in high school, pretty much just to fit in and make other kids think I wasn't as much of a wuss as I looked. As I grew up and found my own confidence and taste, Deftones stuck with me by revealing a softer and more electronic focused side. This all came to a head with the one off Chino Moreno side-project / collaboration album - Team Sleep (2005). ††† is sort of like the follow up that we never got to that fantastic Team Sleep album.

In †††, Chino joins forces with his friends in the band Far, to create something further into the electronic realm. Last year's debut EP, †, gave us exactly what most expected and wanted. Moody, atmospheric, sort of depressing or gothic electronica. It wasn't as attention-grabbing as Team Sleep or even when Deftones started experimenting with the sound; but still a type of sound so infrequent from Chino, it's very welcome.

†† stirs up a different tone; something a bit more positive. "Fron†iers" kicks things off with a rousing triumphant feeling. "Prurien†" follows, a very radio friendly love ballad. The momentum climaxes with "†elepa†hy"; the most rocking composition they've come up with so far. Seeming by design, the last two songs are like the crash after the high. You can feel the gears come to a halt in "1987". It's a familiar sinking feeling that I expected to get from this project when it was first announced. With just 5 songs, †† creates a journey of emotional highs and lows.

I like that these guys are testing the range of their sound. Even though I'm not as jazzed about this stuff as I was for Team Sleep, I hope that these EPs continue, and they take on a slightly different attitude in each one. Trying to convince people that Deftones is a band with actual substance has been a challenge over the years. Like Team Sleep, these EPs help reveal the side of Chino Moreno's songwriting and delivery that few people bother to discover.