StartFragment★★★☆☆ EndFragment
StartFragment“Stiff” is White Denim’s newest album. White Denim is a four man band from Texas that combines Rock & Roll, Pop, and Blues to create music that a wide variety of tastes can enjoy. “Stiff” was released March 25th 2016, and is made up of 9 tracks. Already the most listened to from the album is the first song, “Had 2 Know (Personal)” for obvious reasons. It’s upbeat with a fast paced rhythm, and more importantly, it’s about a relationship gone wrong, which almost everyone can relate to. The second song on the album, “HaHaHaHa (Yeah)” is much less popular, and brings down the energy the first song built up. It has an optimistic message, but it’s so repetitive that it gets old fast. Next, “Holda You (I’m Psycho)” comes back to get the listener hyped again. It’s quick, with an intense message: another relationship gone wrong (or right) depending on the listener. There’s a guitar solo that’s pretty long, but it’s so good that you hardly notice the length. Next is “I’ve got a Brain in My Head” which is reminiscent of The Beatles when they first began writing music. In an attempt to attract young and old listeners, this song captures both eras, making it interesting to listen to. “Take it Easy (Ever After Lasting Love)” slows the album back down with a genuine love ballad. In tradition with the rest of the album, the long, drawn out guitar strums are an old technique to capture an older sound, making it hard to determine when the song was produced. However, halfway through the song, there’s a long electronic sound that drowns out the rest of the song, making it a more modern love song. “I’m the One (Big Big Fun)” is the 6th track on the album, keeping the pace as slow and mellow. The use of echo makes the song a little creepy, but other than that, the lyrics and confident beat make the song good to chill and hang out too. After that, the pace picks up again with “Real Deal Momma” which has powerful guitar riffs and brings back the energy to the album. Track 8 is “Mirrored in Reverse” which is full old school Rock and Roll. Even a true fan of the Oldie’s would ask why they haven’t heard this song with its use of guitar solos and modifiers. The final song, “Thank You” is quite literally a thank you to the listeners. White Denim is not a particularly popular band, so producing and releasing this album on time was important to them. The fans that do continually support them are very important. The album as a whole was an interesting collection of modern songs with an old sound to them. Managing to capture both sounds was impressive, and their hard work will pay off. EndFragment