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Thursday, May 18, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
‘The Wall’ is atypical
‘spin’ is a welcomed emo
album by Tigers Jaw
ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in combat position
BLACK CEMENT RECORDS
Both members of Tigers Jaw
By SAM LU
Daily Arts Writer
When
listening
to
Tigers
Jaw’s
newest
release, it’s pretty obvious
that some drastic changes
have occurred since the
group’s infancy. spin car-
ries the same bright emo
spirit that was first intro-
duced with the release
of Tigers Jaw’s self titled
album, but with a notice-
ably softer tone; the vocal
overlays used in many of
spin’s tracks are remi-
niscent in tune of a more
punk version of Oh Won-
der’s material.
In 2013, when three
of its five members left
the group, fans thought
Tigers Jaw was breaking
up indefinitely, but Ben
Walsh and Brianna Col-
lins continued the group
as a duo. spin is their sec-
ond release since 2014’s
Charmer, and is complete-
ly different from any of the
band’s discography from
before their reform. The
album opens with “Fol-
lows,” a track that strikes
a perfect balance between
aggressive emo and weepy
angst. Walsh’s voice is
effortless and consistent
as he sings, “I should have
listened to you when you
said / Nothing will make
this easier,” simple lyr-
ics that frame the easy
listenability of the rest of
the album. “Favorite,” the
second track of the album,
has a faster, bass pow-
ered beginning. The song
expands on the same mel-
ancholy wistfulness that
first appears in “Follows”
and extends to the rest of
the album.
One of the benefits of
Tigers Jaw’s reform is
the way it emphasizes the
contrasts
between
Col-
lins’s and Walsh’s voices.
Like the albums that came
before it, Walsh provides
main vocals for some of
spin’s tracks, while Col-
lins heads some for others;
the greatest differences
come from the harmonies
between their voices. In
comparison to the albums
from
before,
spin
has
more songs where Col-
lins and Walsh have their
voices overlaid, such as in
“June” and “Escape Plan.”
The layered effect is not
only scintillating but also
intoxicatingly difficult to
stop listening to.
spin also makes good
use of contrast between
songs; “Bullet,” one of
the more acoustic tracks
on the album, is sand-
wiched between “Guard-
ian” and “Brass Ring,” two
tracks that are sonically
distanced from the soft
acoustics in between them.
Walsh’s sweet tone and
deeper octaves in “Bullet”
draw out the intensity and
smooth reach of Collins’s
voice in “Brass Ring.” In
“Bullet,” the lyrics are
short and repetitive, and
have a rhythm character-
istic of nursery rhyme:
“Bullet to a target / Bulls
eye, watch it die / Bullet
to a target / Heart crossed
twice, caught in a lie.”
spin bridges the scary
chasm that divides hard
rock from tamer genres.
There is intensity there
— not only in the gui-
tar or other instrumen-
tals, but also in the lyrics
themselves. Although the
album has a definite dis-
connect from Billboard
hits, it’s both a pleasant
introduction to the emo/
rock genre as a whole and
a fresh addition to the new
wave emo of the 21st cen-
tury.
‘spin’
Tigers Jaw
Black Cement
Records
By JEREMIAH VANDER-
HELM
Daily Arts Writer
For a movie that is, by
all appearances, a war
thriller, “The Wall” has
an almost anti-cinematic
plot. It focuses on a soldier
(Aaron
Taylor-Johnson,
“Nocturnal
Animals”)
fighting in Iraq in the late
2000s who is pinned down
behind a wall and eventu-
ally engages the sniper
(Laith Nakli, “24: Lega-
cy”) trying to pick him off
in a conversation over
radio. That’s it. That’s the
story. So much of it is reli-
ant on performance and
dialogue that it at times
feels like a one man play.
This is shocking con-
sidering it comes from
director Doug Liman, the
man behind over-the-top
action flicks like “Edge
of Tomorrow” and “Mr.
and Mrs. Smith,” as well
as the less excessive but
still action-packed “The
Bourne Identity.” Liman
shows great restraint here,
relying on sound more
than his usual hyper-styl-
ized editing. It may sound
like an odd thing to com-
pliment a movie on, but the
use of sound in “The Wall”
— the whizzing of bullets
passing by, the cracking
of a rifle — becomes very
important to both the
story and the tension. In
an early scene that finds
Taylor-Johnson’s
Isaac
dodging sniper fire, view-
ers learn to fear the sound
of the bullets’ impact even
more than the report that
follows it. It is this matu-
rity that first begins to set
“The Wall” apart.
What ultimately makes
this an atypical war film
are its Gothic and Roman-
tic undertones. “The Wall”
is heavily influenced by
these genres of classic
literature, especially the
stories of Edgar Allan Poe,
and it wears these influ-
ences on its sleeve. Dur-
ing the course of their
conversation, Isaac and
the sniper reference “The
Tell-Tale Heart” and “The
Raven” — a bird that,
along with its caw, makes
several appearances as the
story wears on. A focus is
placed on fear. Characters
hold dark secrets. It may
be missing a classically
gothic setting, but that
doesn’t make the homages
in Dwain Worrell’s (“Iron
Fist”) script any less clear.
It also bears saying
that, for anyone with any
doubt
left
over
Aaron
Taylor-Johnson’s versatil-
ity as an actor, his work
in “The Wall” is further
proof. Fresh off his award-
winning performance in
“Nocturnal Animals,” he
gives a similarly animal-
istic turn, but driven by a
will to survive and outwit
his opponent rather than
random acts of evil. Credit
is also due to Nakli for
constructing a terrifying
antagonist despite never
once appearing on screen.
There are a great deal
of positives to “The Wall,”
which makes the later
scenes that undo much of
the good work done previ-
ously — particularly with
relation to Isaac’s char-
acter arc and the gothic
stylings — all the more dis-
appointing. It’s impossible
to discuss in detail with-
out delving into spoilers,
but a certain pointless-
ness seems to settle over
the whole affair. Earlier
scenes lose their impact,
and the script never quite
regains its footing going
forward.
That isn’t to say that
“The Wall” is complete-
ly ruined by those later
scenes, but the lack of
any
deeper
resonance
as it rolls to a close does
make it harder to recom-
mend. Ultimately, it’s still
salvageable,
though,
if
only by the strength of
Taylor-Johnson’s perfor-
mance and the unique-
ness brought by Liman’s
direction and the unusu-
al influences. If you’re
looking for a flashy war
movie with explosions and
shootouts galore, you may
wish to look elsewhere.
But for those who want a
quieter but no less intense
thriller, this is definitely
one to check out.
‘The Wall’
Rave Cinemas/
Quality 16
Roadside
Attractions
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