C.D. Singles Club #34 – Collider – Time Concerns
I’ve been doing this kind of cultural criticism writing on and off now for more years that I care to count. Since my junior year in high school, about half my life ago, rarely has a period of more than several months or a year gone by between times when I was writing something in some formal, if not exactly professional, capacity for someone. Over those many months and years, I’ve listened to and written about hundreds of artists, and one of the greatest joys I’ve had in that time is when I discover someone at the beginning of their career and then, some time later, I hear about or from them again, on a later recording and I find that they’ve gotten even better.
I don’t know why that is. As a critic, I have no ownership over their art, certainly not in any proprietary sense, and most of the time the folks involved in the creative effort are total strangers, so it isn’t like the warm glow comes out of any affectionate or even paternalistic place. Still, it brings a smile to my face and a small bit of pride to my evil heart when I find myself thinking something along the lines of how much better the new release is than the old one.
Such was the case when I heard the new single off of Collider’s forthcoming EP, Big Bang Machine. “Time Concerns” doesn’t have the playfulness of some of the tracks on Down in Saturines, the band’s debut effort, but it does have a fuller, more mature sound that wasn’t present on the previous release. The band has also gotten a bit droney and incorporated some cryptic lyrics that, while not absolutely opaque, leave quite a bit to the imagination – developmental characteristics that make me swoon. Is this a song about space travel? Vampires? Love? A solar eclipse? I don’t know, though I plan to keep listening long enough to maybe figure it out.
If you dig “Time Concerns,” keep an eye out for more Collider in the future as Big Bang Machine drops 12/31/09. In the meantime, west coast readers should stay tuned for live shows as Collider gigs in its hometown, San Francisco, and parts nearby.
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