Two Tongues - Two Tongues Review

There’s not a single burr to be found anywhere on the voice of Dierks Bentley, the likably tender rising country star. As a result his best songs have all but snubbed complexity: some are slow and earnest (“My Last Name,” “Settle for a Slowdown”), and the others are rollicking, amused chronicles of emotional haplessness (“What Was I Thinkin’,” “How Am I Doin’ ”).

At the beginning of “Feel That Fire,” his largely unimaginative fourth album, Mr. Bentley, like many artists with a too-clean image, is looking to cultivate an outlaw streak. “She never knew my name/At least not the one my daddy gave me,” he winks on “Life on the Run,” though the song never approaches salaciousness. Then, on “Sideways,” he attempts bar seduction with all the sass of an altar boy....full text Operating like two halves of one brain, this Warped Tour fantasy group -- Saves the Day's Chris Conley and David Soloway plus Say Anything's Max Bemis and Coby Linder -- flood their debut album with opposites: dark/ light, quiet/loud, mid-period Replacements and obscure, angular '90s emo. Obvious influences aside, Two Tongues is some of the most powerfully original music either camp has released, with the intimate production raising the goose-bump factor of Conley's and Bemis' earnest, if wildly contrasting, vocal styles....full text Comprising members of Say Anything and Saves the Day, Two Tongues is a 21st century punk-pop dream team, complete with two able-voiced frontman and hefty helpings of angsty, rhythmic crunch. Max Bemis (the brainchild behind Say Anything's musical mishmash) and Saves the Day's Chris Conley may be unlikely partners, both of them boasting wildly different voices, but their give-and-take relationship is one of Two Tongues' most endearing aspects. Taking strength in that duality, the band's debut album covers a surprising amount of ground, from the requisite Warped Tour anthems (including the angsty opener, "Crawl") to such '90s alt rock throwbacks as "Don't You Want to Come Home" and "Try Not to Save Me." Throughout the album's 13 tracks, Two Tongues embraces an older interpretation of emo music, prizing angular guitars and soft/loud dynamics over the genre's newfound emphasis on pristine production and oversize pop choruses. That being said, there's plenty of pop to be had here, particularly during the sugary, slaphappy verses of "Wowee Zowee." Meanwhile, Eisley's Sherri DuPree (who designed the album's cover art) gives an uncredited performance on "Interlude," her gorgeous vocals serving as a brief breather from the band's heavy onslaught, while a cover of Ween's "Even If You Don't" serves as the album's closer. Bemis and Conley may wield the most power here, but Two Tongues debut is a collaborative effort through and through, with the band taking measures to prove its debt to past traditions and present friends.
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