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© NCSU Student Media 2011
Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, band members of The Rosebuds, perform a song off of their new album, "Loud Plane Fly Low," at Schoolkids Records June 7. The band kicked off their tour with Bon Iver June 10.
Christina Rentz of Merge Records recently tweeted that The Love Language’s Libraries is “one of the greatest summer albums ever recorded in the dead of winter!” To draw a parallel, the latest LP from labelmates, The Rosebuds is a perfect winter record released in June.
Where both Raleigh bands draw heavily from 60’s pop, The Rosebuds’ Loud Planes Fly Low is possessed of an indrawn, adult character betraying its origins. It’s a record written by the now-divorced songwriting team of Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard, not only about the end of the marriage that defined the band but also about how the two came to professional terms in lieu of the split and decided to keep making music.
“You look over at me every day / and I look over at you every day / and I don’t know how long I’m supposed to wait,” Howard sings in “Without a Focus.”
A lot of the emotions explored here are beyond the scope of simple teenage breakup. Crisp and Howard navigate tricky waters—the record could easily be loaded with sappy revelations or minor-key moping. Yet – in keeping with the inescapable maturity of this material – The Rosebuds admit to pure and total emotional confusion.
“Perspective ceases to exist,” Howard admits in that same song. Tunes like “Cover Ears” reference the sweeping atmospherics of Morrissey’s solo career, while the confident disco stomp of “Come Visit Me” belies Crisp’s emotional burnout.
In “Second Bird of Paradise,” a Jacques-Cousteau vibe carries mystical lines like “she’s my sister / and she floats like a bird in the canopy.” Marriage mixes romance and family. When marriage and art are tied together, such as in this band, the dissolution of the former leaves frayed loose ends in the latter. It’s unclear whether or not Howard is describing his post-marital relationship with Crisp, but he can’t keep his eyes off this bird of paradise.
The indie world may be reclaiming territory otherwise seen as cheesy, so this is best described as an adult contemporary record. The same can be said for some other recent releases such as Destroyer’s magnificent Kaputt. True, records like these are not a good place to go for a good, quick rock energy fix. Rather, quality songwriting and inescapable, dense textures hook the listener.
Loud Planes Fly Low is moody at spots and distinctly introspective: emotional, not histrionic. Crisp and Howard have given us a window into the post-fallout healing process, and it’s quite a good listen.