Pins and Needles is the fourth album by Toronto’s goth rockers The Birthday Massacre, three years after the release of 2007’s Walking With Strangers. They’ve clearly taken their sweet time writing this one, so how did it come out?
This group has always had a rather unique approach to rock music, maintaining a sickeningly stereotypical Hot Topic/Mall Goth appearance of untold thousands of misunderstood 14 year old girls everywhere. And though the lyrics are through and through one lovelorn heartbreak after another, this album is a success, for several reasons.
Firstly, the band places heavy emphasis on the keyboard player, who rotates between a techy square wave sound, chimes and bells, and overly synthesized strings. His contributions on each track singlehandedly maintain the atmospheric haze which has remained a constant from album to album.
The vocalist, stage name Chibi, does not have a very powerful voice, and fortunately she knows it. In time she’s worked with these limitations and Owen’s keys to transform the band’s sound into what can best be described as lullaby gothic rock. Very simple, almost cinder block melodies permeate every song, occasionally coming off as repetitive and phoned in, but very often her smooth soothing voice works well with the deep, yet equally cinder block guitar work and distorted, throbbing bass.
Third, is their drummer. He likes to be called Rhim, and in all honesty, his place should be a touring drummer for a big-ticket hip hop artist because his beats are damn good. With his skills added to the band, we arrive at a sextet of gothic lullaby rockers who could walk onto any nightclub stage and burn the house down.
Pins and Needles is the end result of ten years of music-making, and their skills are honed to a catchy, wonderfully consistent point. Though there are rapid shifts in dynamic throughout the album, most notable on the title track, none of these are jarring or off-putting at all.
The second track, Always is a perfect example of how these guys take some very contrasting talents and make them work very, very well. We’re treated to a precision-written piece with two choruses back to back, in which the melodic tension is maintained and built upon masterfully before resolving into itself with a deeply satisfying drop. “It’s not what I want, for always” laments Chibi but oh how wrong you are my dear, this is what I want.
Other moments of prowess are the percussively driven Shallow Grave, with a beat that would be at home in any top 40 hit, and the eerie and powerful Control.
The remainder of the album’s music is good, but the dragged out down-tempo ending goes against the grain of the first three quarters’ worth of energetic noise, but this hardly detracts from what this album is: solidly made, and a clear indication of progress and improvement from their previous work.
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