The Hurricane Lamps
You Deserve What You Want
Sonic Boomerang
The Hurricane Lamps have a very raw sound. Don’t be confused by other reviews that label them as pop punk. They’re not. At least, not in the Epitaph Records sense of pop punk. They have a much stronger pop influence and more of a raw, garage sound with emo vocals. The rawness could be attributed to the fact that it was all recorded on an eight track, except “I’ve Got Something to Tell You,” which was recorded on a four track. The disappointment of the CD was track 4, “Baby I’m Sorry For All the Bad Things You Made Me Do.” The guitar part was painfully repetitive and plain, while Eric’s vocals were far too whiny. But the track is not without redeeming qualities. The lyrics, as limited as they may be, are comforting in a kind of depressed love-struck way that must appeal to most everyone. This lyrical style can be found throughout the CD, but my favorite example is in the next track, “I Need to Know Something Good Will Last.” In fact, at their finest moments (one of which is contained in this track), they sound like a Magnetic Fields bootleg. It happens again in “Baby’s Learned a Brand New Dance.” But right when you’re used to their fairly consistent sound, they throw in “I’ve Got Something to Tell You,” in which they adopt a Ween-like sound. You Deserve What You Want has the sound of a well-recorded live album rather than a poorly-recorded studio album, and the CD is worth the price just to get the lyrics for future use in relationships. They might not be profound, but they hold a kind of simple honesty that doesn’t seem to come around much anymore.
Sonic Boomerang, 426 Maple Avenue East, Vienna, VA 22180; http://www.thehurricanelamps.com/
