Monday, March 30, 2009

Album Review: Give Me Back My Metaphors

now playing: The Sterns - Who Stole Your Drugs?


Okay, this one's probably cheating a little, since The Sterns' Give Me Back My Metaphors is a three-song EP, but I've been waiting for this release ever since I saw The Sterns live last October. Like I mentioned in my very first post, this quintet recently turned into a trio featuring the namesake Alex Stern on guitar and vocals, Emeen Zarookian on bass and vocals, and Zak Kahn on drums. I've talked with Emeen and Zak (the former is an employee at Harmonix Studios in Cambridge) and both of them seemed really excited to get this EP together. It doesn't take long to see why.

The title track opens with a killer bass line that moves seamlessly into the same kind of songwriting I've grown to love in this band. It's a sarcastic little song about a relationship, and it manages to rhyme "sympathetic" with "anesthetic". Track two, "Total Fitness", talks about a three-year affair between lovers who met at the gym and shows off some harmonies between Stern and Zarookian that remind me of the Police. And "Who Stole Your Drugs?" seems to be directed towards a couple different people who have done terrible things and blamed it on drugs. And how curious that those drugs are missing now.

Basically, what listeners can expect from this EP is more of a stripped-down sound, since their keyboardist is no longer there. But it's still the same Sterns from Sinners Stick Together; all the songwriting is in place (and has in fact improved), and the band seems just as psyched about these new songs as I am, so that's always a plus. I look forward to hearing the metaphors they've been holding back. A

Give Me Back My Metaphors is available on The Sterns' MySpace.

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