The Airborne Toxic Event | Songs of God and WhiskeyEmpty Bottle Evenings

May182015May 18, 2015May 18, 2015No Commentby Bake

The Airborne Toxic Event | Songs of God and Whiskey

Posted in Music

Not long ago I wrote a scathing review of The Airborne Toxic Event’s new album Dope Machines. I didn’t care for it because I felt it was a synth nightmare and another example of a rock band moving toward ‘80s style pop. It didn’t feel like ATE, it felt like Electric Dream Machine. But the band wasn’t done releasing music this year, putting out Songs of God and Whiskey two months later. This compilation style album pulls together songs from the band’s entire career that are a lot more rock and folk and a lot less Depeche Mode. While it is uneven like most b-side albums, there are actually some decent songs on this album that give me hope for this band again.

The opening track “Poor Isaac” is one of the best songs they have ever created: singer Mikel Jollet strums an acoustic and angrily belts out the words to this bible inspired rocker. It sounds impassioned and tight, driven and raw, without any overproduction. It’s followed by “Cocaine and Abel” a song best enjoyed if not taken too seriously; it’s really fun despite the silly and high pitched hoo hooo chorus, and is ultimately saved by the mariachi-style horn explosion. This same style can be heard more subtly later on the album in one of the better songs “Strangers”. There’s a lot of folkier rock songs on Songs of God and Whiskey like “Change and Change and Change and Change” and “A Certain Type of Girl” with the later dabbling in a little country. It’s a good reminder of the versatility of this band showing that not only should they not be limited to the over-synthesized sounds of Dope Machines, but not just the alt-rock of their earlier albums either.

I don’t love every song on Songs of God and Whiskey (“April is the Cruelest Month” in particular) but they hint at something that the band has and still can create. I have to believe that if Jollet didn’t think ATE was about more than California pop they never would have put out another record with deeper, beautiful songs like “The Fall of Rome”. Part of me is disappointed that the band didn’t take these songs and flesh out this album, making this the central focus and adding a couple tracks instead of rolling out 10 songs that could be an extended Daytrotter session. But the other part of me is still hopeful, that songs like this will surface again in the future, and the (Dope) Machines won’t take over.