Send "The Receiving End of Sirens " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 Only one word is capable of latching itself onto The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi: exhausting. It's exhausting to listen to, exhausting to write about, exhausting to think about; it's like a black hole from which nothing can escape, least of all light. With all that said, it's painfully catchy, but painfully is the right word; you can almost feel its hooks pummeling you, each one familiar but not quite recurring. Such is the claustrophobic nature of The Receiving End Of Sirens' second LP: it exists in the same vortex as Radiohead's Kid A, somehow impossible to break apart and completely in denial of the outside world.Even when the band adopt a softer approach than their default swirling rock/post-hardcore, like the choral section at the end of "A Realization Of The Ear", the voices surround you, intent on locking you in a moment of beauty rather than letting it flow anywhere. Elsewhere, the cages are built from twisting, screeching guitar lines, abrasive electronics, and overwhelming vocal harmonies, all of which is produced in such a way as to submerge you underneath, throwing your arms at the tales of tragedy and loss and pain that Brendan Brown labours over. The floodgates, though, are shut for a reason, and that reason is "The Pale Blue Dot", the album's closing track, harbouring one of those moments you just have to hear again. In isolation, it's innocuous, but under the weight of everything that's come before, when the dam breaks, it releases all the pent-up emotions of the last eleven tracks in one exhilarating rush. This is how to build an album, one which relies on every iota of itself to achieve that final climax. The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi is a difficult record, there can be no doubt, but its brilliance is ultimately so rewarding. It's a record which writhes in discomfort from start to finish, letting its pain conduct epic and suffocating waves of sound until it finally all collapses in on itself, and you wonder how on earth you got so far from home....full text |
| Absolutepunk |
| It is no small order to tackle a concept album based on Johannes Kepler's theory of Earth's tonal orbit, centering around the themes of misery and famine. And surely, this is not a process that becomes any easier when your band loses one of it's prime creative forces in Casey Crescenzo, who has since gone on to do great things with his Dear Hunter project. So really, it is quite understandable that listeners are rather apprehensive as they first approach The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi, the second studio album from The Receiving End of Sirens. With all factors considered, it sounded like the boys might have bitten off more than they could chew - especially when they were playing with a roster that Crescenzo disciples would (recklessly) consider "crippled." Nevertheless, the band hit the studio with Matt Squire to take a swing at the expectations laid out before them, and have met them in stride. It is absolutely essential to highlight that if you come into The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi expecting Between the Heart and the Synapse Part II, you are going to be sorely disappointed by the differences between the works. This is not to say that fans of the first will not like the second, at all. But rather, if "Planning a Prison Break" was a barometer for the BTHATS, "Swallow People Whole" is an equally appropriate water mark for TESMFM. The new record's commencement shows off what we should expect from this revamped TREOS - a more subdued approach that is calmer and more melodic, yet still tactfully affecting. All of the energy is channeled strategically, in a way that lends both the song and the album to a pair of massive crescendos that are really quite operatic and epic. From there, The Earth is quite consistent, yet there are still variances between the songs that deserve to be analyzed. For those looking the bridge the gap from Between, then they shall look no further than "Smoke and Mirrors," "Saturnus," or "Stay Small." These tracks all offer up the blazing guitar riffs, passionate hooks, and overall driving pulse of the TREOS we have all come to know and love. Besides these, there is still quite a bit to be enjoyed, but on a different set of levels. Whether it be progressive guitar chunks ("Oubliette (Disappear)"), narrative lyrics ("The Salesman, The Husband, The Lover"), surprisingly skilled beats/sequencing and gorgeous harmonies ("A Realization of the Ear"), The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi is a very full, a very rich, and a very complex record. And everything comes to a head on the album's final chapter, "Pale Blue Dot" which is quite simply a perfect closer. It is the type of slice that makes you swell up with pride and emotion, and makes you want to play the record over again just so you can get to that point once again. Stunning, for sure....full text |
| Punknews |
| How do you define the Receiving End of Sirens? Too "punk" to be "progressive" but too "progressive" to be defined as "punk." So is the case of their second album The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi. Based on the concept of 16th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler's theory of the tonality of the solar system, TREOS bring to the table much of the same from their debut and more. Not since the glory days of `70s prog-rock has an album been written on such a unconventional topic, but with that being said, TREOS pull it off with much originality and variety that to this day make them very hard to define them in a set genre. The triple-pronged vocal attack on almost every song gives The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi a lot of depth and variety and is evident on songs like "Saturnus" and "Stay Small." TREOS establish a continually atmospheric sound that builds more of an air than their Thrice-via-Artist in the Ambulance-esque debut tended to provide. The lyrical content behind the album is very interesting and quite compelling, based on the theory that each of the planets in the solar system produces a tone as they orbit the sun. The Earth produces the notes Mi, Fa and Mi on the vocal scale, which Kepler said stood for Misery, Famine and Misery. This theme runs quite rampantly through the album, especially with a song like "The Salesman, The Husband, The Lover."...full text |
The Receiving End of Sirens lyrics
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