Maybe it’s because it was put out into the world right as spring is thawing out a frozen Boston, but everything on Faces on Film’s new album Elite Lines is a mixture of the gloomy and bright. Released March 25, Elite Lines has everything from a Neil Young allusion (“Percy”) to a one-minute string-picking song that names the entire album (“Elite Lines”).
Despite Boston’s recently gloomy season, Faces on Film fills tracks like “Your Old One,” with sunny musical texture through the slow tempo electric guitar strums and tambourine shake. If it weren’t for the lyrics, “Your Old One” would be a song I’d play out loud with my speakers thrown in the sand under a canopy of sunny sky overhead. The care-free floating music contrasts the nostalgic lyrics as the singer describes a relationship he knows contains no future.
Only two songs have choruses that repeat in the entire eight-track album, while most others have few words in them at all. Yet the band uses select verses in a less-is-more case, filling gaps between words with longer intros and developing melodies. The few poetic phrases they include carry more impact, as the listeners are given more beats after each line to ponder the extremely personal stories many of the songs carry. In Faces on Film’s words, it’s a “private beauty on display” for the listeners.
As a whole, the album doesn’t really tie up together into a perfect package, but that’s okay, because the songs are individual musical paintings in themselves. Some tracks play with distorted electric guitar solos like “Bad Star,” which creates a grungier song. On the other hand, the first track on the album, “Percy” uses mysterious percussions and allusions to legendary folk singer Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” in its lyrics. These musical aspects add a more folksy feel in some of the songs, especially when contrasted with harsher sounds in others. These songs collage on Elite Lines to give the listeners the ability to decide what they’re listening to and which mood they should be in.