Our Lady Peace - Burn Burn Review

Posted by Rob Fierro on 08.01.2009

The culmination of the Our Lady Peace's attempts to avoid a burnout is Burn Burn, an offering that displays the band’s maturation and propensity towards a heavier, guitar driven rock sound.



Lineup
Raine Maida
Jeremy Taggart
Duncan Coutts
Steve Mazur

Tracks
“All You Did Was Save My Life”
"Dreamland"
"Monkey Brains"  
 "The End Is Where We Begin"  
"Escape Artist"  
“Refuge"  
"Never Get Over You"  
"White Flags"  
 "Signs of Life"  
"Paper Moon"

Canadian alternative rock band, Our Lady Peace, after two years, solo projects and a brief hiatus, return with their seventh studio album, Burn Burn. Self described by vocalist Raine Maida as a “proper rock album,” OLP harnesses a sound that harkens back to their earliest album, Naveed. The band’s parting ways with Columbia Records in 2009, after the release of their hits compilation, The Very Best of Our Lady Peace,seemed to help in the creation of this album:

“It took us six other records to figure out how we truly wanted to make records,” said Maida in an interview with Metro Canada.

Production began on Burn Burn in February of 2007 and continued on and off through March of 2009, as the band took a hiatus, where they all tended to various other projects, including Maida’s 2007 solo release, The Hunter’s Lullaby. The culmination of the band’s attempts to avoid a burnout is Burn Burn, an offering that displays the band’s maturation and propensity towards a heavier, guitar driven rock sound. Mostly recorded in Maida’s home studio in Los Angeles, OLP relished the opportunity to self-produce an album (done by Maida) and “not have anybody intrude on sessions."

Burn Burn opens with “All You Did Was Save My Life” (also released as a single) a track that immediately demonstrates the shift in sound towards Steve Mazur’s heavy guitar play. Maida’s vocals are very prominent, as is Duncan Routt’s bass. Maida’s lyrics are also very positive, as they are for the first few tracks: “But like the singer that sings the blues/You saw hope in the hopeless.” The album continues on with “Dreamland,” a track that opens as a slower, dreamier offering that features piano accompaniment along with the other instruments and the tempo becomes faster as the track progresses.

The next on Burn Burn is “Monkey Brains” a track that is as interesting as it is oddly-titled. It features interesting instrumentation such as metal-like lead guitar, a bass driven opening and additional piano accompaniment. The track slows down in the middle and sounds like an acoustic ballad before it speeds up and matches the sound of the beginning of the track. Because of this stylistic choice, “Monkey Brains” is essentially two songs in one. Burn Burn continues with “The End is Where We Begin,” highlighted by stark vocals and sound effects in the beginning. The other instruments join in short order to round out the track. Maida’s lyrics are not as positive, but they still feature a tinge of optimism: “Here I am, waitin' for one last chance/'Cuz this time we got, nothing left to lose.”

“Escape Artist” is the next track on Burn Burn. It features Jeremy Taggart’s percussion in the opening of the track along with Maida’s vocals, quickly followed by the usual accompaniment of Mazur and Routt. This track also utilizes various background sound effects and develops into a sprawling rock ballad, well suited for an arena (much like OLP’s “4 AM”). On “Refuge,” Maida incorporates electronic instrumentation, highlighted by his prominent vocals. Slow at times, “Refuge” is an interesting meld of instruments and sound. The next track, “Never Get Over You” features piano accompaniment with Maida’s vocals at the onset of the offering. The other band members join in later, with Mazur’s skillful lead guitar play providing a driving force for the track.

“White Flags” opens with a keyboard chord progression that persists throughout much of the track. Mazur’s guitar is also prominent on another one of Maida’s “positive, but not too positive” offerings: “And this whole world has gone crazy/God's got a little lazy/We're raising our white flags/And holding our breath/Oh, we're trading our black hearts/For angels instead.” The album continues with “Signs Of Life,” a track that isn’t as heavy as the ones preceding it. The instrumentation is soft, which allows for more of an introspective sound. Maida’s vocals are backed up by a dream-like chant at times. Burn Burn is rounded out by “Paper Moon,” a track that fits as the final track. It features prominent percussion and keyboard accompaniment. Mazur’s expertise is on display here. His guitar play, while scant, is excellent. Maida’s songwriting prowess really hits a stride among the closing tracks of Burn Burn.

The 411: As Maida said, the sound on OLP's Burn Burn does come out like a straight rock album-- a vanilla rock album, that is. This difference in sound takes away from what made me a fan of the band in the first place. A lot of the songs sound the same, and even Maida's vocals are different from how they are on songs such as "4 AM," "Somewhere Out There" and "Life." His songwriting is still superb though as evidenced in the closing tracks. "Monkey Brains," "Signs of Life" and "Paper Moon" were pretty sweet. I wasn't into it, but if you dig OLP, it's still worth a listen.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]