Press
Junk Media 1/2003 - John Hrubin
November 2nd - Midnight Desert
(Escape/EMI Czech Republic, 2002)
Czech band November 2nd wears its self-proclaimed influences (Counting Crows, Pearl Jam and Ben Harper) on its sleeve. One listen to their debut album, Midnight Desert, is all it takes to see where they're coming from. However, on one hand, the songs on it tend to be a bit slower and softer than a typical album from those three acts. If it didn't contain the (almost) funk metal of the jams "Cut Up," "Border of Fire," "OKD" and, especially, "Get No Sleep," it could be interpreted as a singer/songwriter record. On the other hand, it's just what you'd expect: an almost completely organic album of seemingly effortless guitar songs.
In typical alt-rock fashion, the band is more interesting in creating riffs and beats rather than solos—although it's not exactly the Nothing But Chords school of playing either. Actually, November 2nd improve on the basic alt-rock formula by using more traditional guitar lines in the styles of funk, blues and folk. Combined with a normally light playing style, the overall sound is smoky, warm, ringing, groove-oriented and pleasantly laid back.
The obvious star of the session is the lead singer/guitarist/violinist/main songwriter Alexandra Langošová. The rest of the band tends to stay in the background, and her booming midrange voice is virtually unignorable. If Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson earned the nickname "Air Raid Siren," then Langošová could at least be called the "Human Bullhorn." In fact, her voice's cutting strength gives it a greater presence within the band than any other instrument. With November 2nd's usually catchy and emotionally charged melodies, the bluesy vocals are usually intensely appealing and at times, like in "Hermann's Characters," even heartbreaking. One gets the feeling that she holds nothing back. Of course, the down side to all this is that with her refusal to tone down her volume, she often sounds hysterical or as if she enjoys sentimentally wallowing in her own pathos. This is probably why two of her quieter songs, "Cat's Wisdom" and "Winter's Gone," are among her best. Her apparent state of creative maturity gets a much needed boost from greater vocal variation.
And her lyrics? Well, surprisingly enough, she does not have any straightforward love songs. Most of the songs are about things like depression and loneliness and how these are offset by nature and its manifestation in her cat (!). As can be expected then, her spirituality comes off as fuzzy-headed but partially believable. After all, music is more about feelings than about intellectual discourse, and she genuinely sounds like she believes in what she sings.
Taken as a whole, Midnight Desert is the kind of album where no song is genuinely bad but where tiny flaws scattered all over the place keep it from being great. It does not provide us with anything particularly new either, even if its overall quality is easily better than that of most Czech musical products. Still, though, with a "human bullhorn" and pop that breaks the bubblegum and goes straight for the heart, November 2nd is a band to watch even outside of their homeland.
November 2nd - Midnight Desert
(Escape/EMI Czech Republic, 2002)
Czech band November 2nd wears its self-proclaimed influences (Counting Crows, Pearl Jam and Ben Harper) on its sleeve. One listen to their debut album, Midnight Desert, is all it takes to see where they're coming from. However, on one hand, the songs on it tend to be a bit slower and softer than a typical album from those three acts. If it didn't contain the (almost) funk metal of the jams "Cut Up," "Border of Fire," "OKD" and, especially, "Get No Sleep," it could be interpreted as a singer/songwriter record. On the other hand, it's just what you'd expect: an almost completely organic album of seemingly effortless guitar songs.
In typical alt-rock fashion, the band is more interesting in creating riffs and beats rather than solos—although it's not exactly the Nothing But Chords school of playing either. Actually, November 2nd improve on the basic alt-rock formula by using more traditional guitar lines in the styles of funk, blues and folk. Combined with a normally light playing style, the overall sound is smoky, warm, ringing, groove-oriented and pleasantly laid back.
The obvious star of the session is the lead singer/guitarist/violinist/main songwriter Alexandra Langošová. The rest of the band tends to stay in the background, and her booming midrange voice is virtually unignorable. If Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson earned the nickname "Air Raid Siren," then Langošová could at least be called the "Human Bullhorn." In fact, her voice's cutting strength gives it a greater presence within the band than any other instrument. With November 2nd's usually catchy and emotionally charged melodies, the bluesy vocals are usually intensely appealing and at times, like in "Hermann's Characters," even heartbreaking. One gets the feeling that she holds nothing back. Of course, the down side to all this is that with her refusal to tone down her volume, she often sounds hysterical or as if she enjoys sentimentally wallowing in her own pathos. This is probably why two of her quieter songs, "Cat's Wisdom" and "Winter's Gone," are among her best. Her apparent state of creative maturity gets a much needed boost from greater vocal variation.
And her lyrics? Well, surprisingly enough, she does not have any straightforward love songs. Most of the songs are about things like depression and loneliness and how these are offset by nature and its manifestation in her cat (!). As can be expected then, her spirituality comes off as fuzzy-headed but partially believable. After all, music is more about feelings than about intellectual discourse, and she genuinely sounds like she believes in what she sings.
Taken as a whole, Midnight Desert is the kind of album where no song is genuinely bad but where tiny flaws scattered all over the place keep it from being great. It does not provide us with anything particularly new either, even if its overall quality is easily better than that of most Czech musical products. Still, though, with a "human bullhorn" and pop that breaks the bubblegum and goes straight for the heart, November 2nd is a band to watch even outside of their homeland.
