Skip to main content

If Not Now, When?: JCS on the new Incubus


James Christopher Sheppard reviews
If Not Now, When?
by Incubus

It’s getting on for five years since established American rock band Incubus last released an entire album of new material, so expectations from their legions of fans are astronomical for new release If Not Now, When? This new album is their seventh release since Fungus Amongus, their 1995 debut and follows their longest break between releases. Fans will be pleased to know that If Not Now, when? does not disappoint…

‘If Not Now, When?’ 8/10
The first track is minimalist and a calm introduction to the album, lead largely around Brandon Boyd’s mesmerizing and unmistakable vocal. The sound Incubus have spent years crafting is as present as it was on 2001’s Morning View. ‘If Not Now, When?’ may not be an instant thunderbolt of a song, but with each listen, improves and yearns to be heard over and over.

 ‘Promises, Promises’ 8/10
First fully released single from the album, ‘Promises, Promises’, is not what is typically expected from a lead single from a new Incubus release. This is less ‘Megalomaniac’ or ‘Anna Molly’ and more ‘Are You In?’. Still, ‘Promises, Promises’ is an uplifting piano lead moment of funky lightheartedness and one that will be welcomed by many.

‘Friends and Lovers’ 7/10
Another chilled out track, ‘Friends and Lovers’, has a sweet melody and is executed brilliantly, but is not a stand out moment amongst the collection.

‘Thieves’ 9/10
Out of soppyville, ‘Thieves’ provides some brilliant lyrics and the most upbeat song yet. ‘Everything is fine, so long as you’re a god-fearing white American’ Boyd sings against the charming mid-tempo backdrop. Nice to see Boyd is his band mates haven’t lost their provoking lyric writing talents!

‘Isadore’ 10/10
The beats are slightly harder and heavier, yet the laid back mood continues. The lyrics here are the most vivid and story-telling on the album. Erica and Isadore appear to be riding a balloon to the moon, but Erica takes the only parachute, abandoning Isadore. I’d love to see an animated video for ‘Isadore’. This is addictive and layered and deserves several listens.

‘The Original’ 8/10
Boyd’s velvety tones are what makes ‘The Original’; that and the progressive build. The last minute builds into an epic multi-layered which is very welcomed at this point in the album, but the lyrics are a little too sickly for me, with ‘Girl you’re the original. Always were, always will be’, nevertheless I’m sure many guitar playing boys will enjoy serenading their girlfriends with this one.

‘Defiance’ 10/10
A purely acoustic guitar driven song, ‘Defiance’ is a stunning song that shows the band’s raw talent and ability to really deliver in a minimalistic way.

‘In the Company of Wolves’ 10/10
Over seven minutes of brilliance is ‘In the Company of Wolves’. The acoustic feel remains, and Boyd uses his voice like a well-oiled instrument. The song features several different techniques and sounds and progresses from soft acoustic, to an almost organic brooding mid-section, to an instrumental epic finale. Absolutely mesmerising!

‘Switch Blade’ 8/10
Boyd is apparently being attacked by a girl in a black hat? ‘Switch Blade’ has the most nonsensical lyrics on the album and provides a fitting moment of relief from otherwise very mellow and grown up album. Still, ‘Switch Blade’ is a very different track for the band.

‘Adolescents’ 10/10
‘Adolescents’ is heavier than it first seems. Crank up the volume or witness it being performed live (as I had the fortune to do last week at the HMV Forum) and you will have a whole new respect for the power of the song. Possibly the most commercially appealing song on the album, ‘Adolescents’ is energetic and mesmerising.

‘Tomorrow’s Food’ 9/10
A fitting close to the album, ‘Tomorrow’s Food’ has a complex calm orchestral feel. While Boyd sings ‘There’s no such thing as the end of the world’, he poignantly points out that we are tomorrow’s food, today, maybe highlighting our insignificance. It is beautiful, moving, kind of inspiring and kind of sad.

Incubus have evolved into a sophisticated band and If Not Now, When? is their calmest and most mellow album to date. As with all Incubus albums, this is completely different to any of their previous releases, but stays true to their highly individual sound. If you want heavy, chuck Make Yourself or S.C.I.E.N.C.E on, but buy this too, for those days you want to really listen- there’s a whole lot going on here. 9/10

If Not Now, When? will be released in the UK through EPIC records on Monday 11th July 2011.

JCS is the regular music critic for Eyewear; a graduate of Kingston University's acclaimed Creative Writing BA, he currently divides his time between Hull and London, where he is working on a book about growing up gay during the Blair Years.

Comments

Christian Ward said…
Good review. I haven't listened to Incubus much since A Crow Left of Murder. Make Yourself is my favourite album of theirs; 'Drive', 'Pardon Me' and 'Privilege' regularly featuring on my playlists.
Make Yourself is in my top ten albums of all time- every track is a 10/10! :) You should check this out- and Light Grenades. So long as you're not expecting another MY or ACLOTM. :)
Anonymous said…
Just a quick note to say that Adolescents was the lead single from the album :)

Plus, the HMV Forum gig was insanely good!
Mateusz said…
one of the best in this year! good review.

Popular posts from this blog

CLIVE WILMER'S THOM GUNN SELECTED POEMS IS A MUST-READ

THAT HANDSOME MAN  A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought.  Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart?  A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional.  Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were.  For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ?  Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets.  But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ?  How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular.  John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se.  What do I mean by smart?

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and  Silence of the Lambs .  I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".