Yesterday's outing, new Thrice impressions.

I have all four volumes of Thrice's Alchemy Index now! I went and bought them yesterday with Jon, when we went out to the mall. I didn't end up finding anything for Kraken's birthday, though... the only things I could think of weren't in stores. So I'll probably end up ordering through Amazon, like he did for me. ^^ (I bought a card to mail him on Monday though! Yay!)

I'd hoped to buy some clothes, but I don't have much money to spare just yet. ;.; I did end up buying another album though -- the new Goldfrapp, Seventh Tree. I'm happy, because for this album Goldfrapp isn't focusing on the usual synth-pop / dance music that they've been doing with Black Cherry and Supernature. I actually got into Goldfrapp in the first place with Felt Mountain, which has less of the highly inorganic, manufactured sound (and is also darker in tone, I'd say, though Goldfrapp is always rather dark and abstract in lyrical theme).

But here's my impressions so far of the new Thrice!

Thrice is one of those bands that have noticeably matured and expanded their sound over the years, and I'm actually really proud to be a fan of them. Might sound like an odd thing to say, but there's plenty of bands out there that stick to a genre and end up limited by that label. It's all well and good to do what labels and fans expect you to do, because it'll ensure you'll at least have a constant influx of money, but that also means you remain stagnant.

To me, music, like any discipline, ought to require constant practice and constant challenging of one's abilities. So I tend to enjoy bands that are continually refining, or even redefining their style, by trying new instruments (or instrument combinations), different mixing techniques or vocal arrangements.

And Thrice has really done just that. When I discovered the first album of theirs I bought, The Illusion of Safety, they had very much more of a punk/hardcore/emo-ish sound to them. In fact, I was specifically *looking* for emo -- yeah, imagine that! But admittedly, it was before emo truly became mainstream and stereotyped. Like... 1999, 2000? I can't remember exactly. Anyway, Thrice was one of the bands I found during that time, and probably the only one I kept listening to long afterward.

I remember Thrice really striking me as "different" and a "band to watch for" because Illusion of Safety had a song with an e.e. cummings poem as its lyrics. Well, there was more reason than that, but that one really stood out... like, a sign to me that the band was more diverse in taste and artistically mature than many others in the genre they were filed into at the time.

But it wasn't until the release of Vheissu (2005) that I really came to understand Thrice's potential as a band. This is where they really took a detour from their original formula, introducing a wider variety of moods and instrumentation, including gorgeous touches of rhodes piano and interesting textures made with music boxes, old, muted drum heads, guitar effects made to resemble dolphin cries, and so on. There were definitely excellent hardcore songs in there -- including one of my favorite tracks which included a prison laborer's chant made by the bandmembers in a dark room at night -- but also some very beautiful, softer tracks with amazing instrumentation, the kind that evoked unbroken sunset horizons, endless expanses of sand and awe-inspiring oceanscapes, and all the longing and nostalgia that can come with such visions.

And now we have The Alchemy Index. A pretty ambitious project by Thrice, in which they have released 4 EPs of 6 songs each, each one focusing on a different element. They were released in two volumes, the first being Fire & Water and the second Air & Earth. I'm in fact listening to them right *now*, so this is by no means a complete review -- but I'm quite impressed so far. Fire is definitely the hardest of the EPs, while Water and Air have some of the softer Vheissu touch to it. Earth is definitely more acoustic and indie-folk, and I've read it resembles vocalist Dustin Kensrue's solo album (?!?) which I'm now interested in buying. :O

All in all, I'm really glad Jon reminded me I wanted the new Thrice. I'm actually kind of boggled I nearly *forgot* about it, but I'm often distracted by tons of things to remember to check up on my favorite bands (many of which are obscure to begin with! aiee!) I have plenty more on my neglected list to search out and buy, too, so hopefully 2008 will be the year for that. :D