Review #209: Layne L'Heureux - New (2011)

NEW

Year: 2011
Genre: Post-Punk/Folk Rock
Label: Old Ugly Records
Tracks: 9
Length: 28 Minutes
My Rating: 7/8

It's Saturday. One of my least favorite days of the week. I'd say it IS my least favorite day of the week. I was up until 3 o' clock last night so I'm a little tired, but WHO CARES? Anyways, Layne L'Heureux (who you may know from either his solo work or his band Diehatzu Hijets) has just released another new solo album, and it's the fourth one he's done since 2008. This album heads in more of a rock/punk direction as far as songwriting goes, as opposed to the first three albums which were for the most part pure folk. As usual, the music is very emotionally hitting and simultaneously sad and uplifting. The lyrics are often introspective and deal with feelings and problems that Layne has experienced in his life.

1. Torture
This one has a pretty dirty guitar sound and it could've just as easily been a Diehatzu Hijets song. The extra guitar added in the chorus part sounds really cool! IT'S NOT UNLIKE ME TO LISTEN TO THIS SONG, DUDE. In one ear you're hearin' the guitar riff and then in another ear you're hearing some weird-sounding fuzzed-out lead guitar. The whole song sounds a bit fuzzed-out. Oh, and there's a drumbeat. The guitar melody at the end vaguely reminds me of a chiming bell for some reason.

2. Mind
This one has an acoustic guitar instead of an electric. Similar to beat to the previous song. The chorus incorporates more electric guitar and melodic instrumentals over this and harmonized vocals and whatnot. 'Cuz it's music, right? Huhah. I like the acoustic riff played in the very middle of the song. Just after this, you hear some really good electric guitar stuff and the song transitions into another section with Layne singing all crazy!

3. I Knew
I really like the guitar melody that starts this one off. Then the tempo gets a little more straightforward and the verse begins. The vocals are kind of high-pitched and wispy in the verse, and then more earthy in the chorus. No drums here. Just guitar and singing. I really like that guitar melody that he plays before each verse. Then the melody of the middle part of the song is even more beautiful. I love it. Layne repeatedly sings "HOLD ON TO WHAT YOU LOVE". I love... know what I love? I love this nice glass of water that is right in front of me. I am going to hold on to it. And drink it. That was some pretty good water. GLUGUGDFGLGUGLUGLGLGUGGLUGGGG!!!!!! Oh. Hi. I am still talking about this song. But now it's over. So that's all I can say for this one.

4. EATer
Another punk rock sort of song. The guitar tone sounds kind of murky and muted in the verse. The chorus is much louder and the drumming is really nice in that part. The part after the chorus is even more interesting, with some kind of psychedelic whizzing sounds and a cool beat. The singing voice here sounds a lot like J Mascis. Sort of wry and with equal amounts of relaxedness and aggression. I like the "SHE'S TELLING ME TO GO AND SEE A FRIEND" part at the end a lot. It sunds good.

5. Comfort
This song is slow and has a downbeat type of guitar riff. Layne's voice sounds kind of weird, but in a really good way. Once again, this song flirts with a psychedelic rock sound, mostly in the chorus. The type of song that's great to get real stoned to. I really really love how that guitar sounds in the chorus part. The chorus is more upbeat-sounding than the verse. And know what, I really still like the way the guitars sound. They just sound really really good. Like this one a lot.

6. Dreams
As usual, always really good guitar riffs and guitar-playing for these songs. See, when you enter the La(y)n(e)d of L. 'Heureux, you realize that it's ALL ABOUT THE GUITAR, man. The guitar is such a great instrument, you gotta admit, man. This song has an acoustic solo. It iz great. The chorus vocals are kinda wispy and soft and trippy-sounding.

7. Daze
Loud, gritty guitars and a hard beat. To me, the beat is like the lines and the guitar is like the colors. If that makes any sense at all. Do you think people can in a sense mentally "see" music? Sometimes I think of it that way. Especially when writing my own songs. I can literally kind of see what my songs "look" like in my head. The chorus part is even more noisy and in that part Layne's singing sounds once again fuzzy. The riff after that part sounds like something the Ramones would write! I like that. After that part, Layne sings about playing in a band finally and there the melody shifts into a more focused folky mode for the cool bridge section before exploding once again into a hot-headed sonic ear-assault!

8. Tell Me
No distortion or drums here, just acoustic guitars, Layne singing, and a humming synth atmospheric. I love it... "I feel like bad food & T.V." -- that was a cool line. The guitars sound really nice and kind of tingle in your ear a little bit. Like good food and non-t.v. But not t.b. either, just in case you were wondering, y'know? We here at Legit Music Reviews (meaning myself) don't endorse giving yourself gross diseases like that. Wonderful song. You should listen to it!

9. Crawl
Almost avant-garde placement of sounds... shifts back and forth between an extremely dirty, fuzzed-out part and a cleaner guitar riff. A lot more discordant riff-wise than the other songs. After the first part of the song, it cuts into a slower part with a clean guitar melody. Kind of dreary-feeling... like you just survived the apocalypse or somethin' like that. For some reason I like the very ending part a lot, also.

So there's YOUR FUCKING REVIEW, GUYS!! Oh. Hi. That was me. Hi again. We were just talking about all of the songs from Layne L'Heureux's NEW album called NEW and it's pretty NEW so if you've heard the NEWs you should go get this NEW album! You can buy it for $8 here, and if possible and you have the cash to spare and you like the sounds of these songs, then you should get it! Here's the link to Layne's website:

http://laynemusic.bandcamp.com/

HAVE FUN. Also, check out the new Diehatzu Hijets ALBUM that came out alongside this release called "Doo Doo Boy", which contains the last recordings of Diehatzu Hijets before it became a real band. And I'll do a review of that one too, pretty soon.

A lot of these songs do sound like they could be Diehatzu Hijets songs, as they're pretty electrifying and punk-y in this episode of the LAYNE L'HEUREUX SAGA. Actually, even though I have already reviewed this album, it doesn't "officially" come aut until March, so that's over a month left to go before THE ALBUM REALLY EXISTS. So when you listen to this album TODAY, you're really just hearing fragments of the reality of TOMORROW... except the album STILL won't be released tomorrow! "WHEN WILL THIS ALBUM EVER COME OUT????", you may ask... well, let me tell you, my old pal... nMeAvReCrH. And how you wanna read that is up to you, but let me tell you, if you wanna be ahead of the curve and do something that's supposed to be happening in the future, THEN GO LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM RIGHT NOW!! DO IT NOW! AAAGGGHHHH. Some of the songs remind me of winter and some of them remind me of spring. But a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that it's still Winter right now. I'm sick of Winter, don't ya know? Well, that's my review. Goodbye for now.

P.S. -- Layne really does live on top of a giant snail.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Comfort
2. Daze
3. I Knew