By Alexei Summers (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
The year is 2012, and while “Calling Me Names” might only be a single track off an album, Good Old War is trying to produce a new one called Come Back as Rain, and I just can’t hold back the urge to complain.
Honestly, Good Old War is one of those bands that gives me a headache every single time I listen to them, though I can’t seem to pinpoint what it really is about them. Is it the singer’s bland nasally voice, the monotonous lyrics, or perhaps the boring indie-gimmick they have going on? Sure, they’re not your typical indie band. They’re different. They’re one of those indie bands that I can’t stand.
I might’ve been introduced to indie in the privileged days of The Decemberists and Belle and Sebastian, but I don’t think that qualifies me to be a perfectionist or snob when it comes to indie music. In fact, I think the whole point of indie bands is that they keep up with such big names and stay on par. Good Old War does not do that. It’s just common sense. Good Old War seems to be so high up on themselves right now that they can’t tell what’s good and what’s terribly bad. I can’t compel someone enough to not buy this album when it comes out.
It seems to me these days that the moment an indie band reaches a bit of fame, they get to the point where they’re overwhelmed and either produce nothing at all ever again, or they just suck forever. Of course, Good Old War is neither of these because Good Old War has never been good.
From their first album, they reverberated their pretentious hipster melodies that echoed lame ’90s pop crossed with a strangled cat, with silly attempts at harmonic vocalization and guitar plucking methods. That was in the year 2008 with their first album Only Way to Be Alone. Four years later, not much has changed; in fact, nothing at all. Their singer sounds exactly the same – that same bland voice that has no place in my earbuds, and which probably should never have been given the privilege of being recorded in a studio. Their songs still give me a headache every time.
The mediocrity never stops, and I can’t seem to escape from it. They seem to be doomed to be one of these boring indie bands that never seem to transcend the levels of utter prosaic un-remarkableness that seems to define so many bands that strive to break out into original song, but ultimately fail to do so. Good Old War is one of the definitive bands that fit that stereotype for me. It is still, to this moment, giving me a headache, and I think it’s time to switch the record off now.
