January 25, 2012
#14: Bridge And Tunnel - Rebuilding Year This band has risen to a decent level of acclaim within the modern East Coast pop punk scene, and as a result have spent most of their career recording for one of the most venerable and long-running record labels within that scene: No Idea Records. However, unlike a lot of the material No Idea has released over the past half-decade or so, Bridge And Tunnel hark back to a more electic era in that label’s history, displaying only very minor pop punk elements within their sound. Indeed, while their drummer was once a member of Latterman, who were one of the most important of the gruff, anthemic brand of pop-punk bands who dominated that scene in the mid-2000s, Bridge And Tunnel take their sound in a significantly different direction. The most important element of their songwriting foundation is a passionate, dramatic feel that in some ways resembles that of fellow New Yorkers Polar Bear Club. But where Polar Bear Club traffic in post-Springsteen heartland rock-isms, Bridge And Tunnel give their music an epic feel with the aid of completely different techniques. Their guitar sound, formed through the use of vintage analog effects pedals, evokes the epic grandeur of instrumental groups like Explosions In The Sky, but harness that feel in service of their passionate, often politically motivated music. The word that I’m dancing around here is “emo,” and I have no idea if Bridge And Tunnel would find it objectionable to hear that term applied to their style, but no outside observer could possibly miss the resemblances. On Rebuilding Year, I can hear elements of many disparate styles that have been associated with the term at one time or another. But none of these songs have any truly derivative elements—Bridge And Tunnel repurpose the basic building blocks of emo (impassionately delivered vocals, personal-is-political subject matter, complex guitar arpeggios, choruses simultaneously harsh and melodic) and build a new sound that is nonetheless solidly within the traditional bailiwick of the genre. I certainly hope my having said so doesn’t cause anyone to pigeonhole them, though. A cursory listen can only hint at the depths contained within these ten songs. Rebuilding Year is the sort of album that grows on you, and every time I play it, I hear something I haven’t noticed before. It has the potential to touch all sorts of different people, regardless of what styles of music they normally listen to. So maybe it’s good that Bridge And Tunnel have become famous for being part of a scene that is structured around a style of music they don’t really play. Maybe it’ll allow them to reach people who might not otherwise give them a chance.

#14: Bridge And Tunnel - Rebuilding Year

This band has risen to a decent level of acclaim within the modern East Coast pop punk scene, and as a result have spent most of their career recording for one of the most venerable and long-running record labels within that scene: No Idea Records. However, unlike a lot of the material No Idea has released over the past half-decade or so, Bridge And Tunnel hark back to a more electic era in that label’s history, displaying only very minor pop punk elements within their sound. Indeed, while their drummer was once a member of Latterman, who were one of the most important of the gruff, anthemic brand of pop-punk bands who dominated that scene in the mid-2000s, Bridge And Tunnel take their sound in a significantly different direction.

The most important element of their songwriting foundation is a passionate, dramatic feel that in some ways resembles that of fellow New Yorkers Polar Bear Club. But where Polar Bear Club traffic in post-Springsteen heartland rock-isms, Bridge And Tunnel give their music an epic feel with the aid of completely different techniques. Their guitar sound, formed through the use of vintage analog effects pedals, evokes the epic grandeur of instrumental groups like Explosions In The Sky, but harness that feel in service of their passionate, often politically motivated music. The word that I’m dancing around here is “emo,” and I have no idea if Bridge And Tunnel would find it objectionable to hear that term applied to their style, but no outside observer could possibly miss the resemblances.

On Rebuilding Year, I can hear elements of many disparate styles that have been associated with the term at one time or another. But none of these songs have any truly derivative elements—Bridge And Tunnel repurpose the basic building blocks of emo (impassionately delivered vocals, personal-is-political subject matter, complex guitar arpeggios, choruses simultaneously harsh and melodic) and build a new sound that is nonetheless solidly within the traditional bailiwick of the genre. I certainly hope my having said so doesn’t cause anyone to pigeonhole them, though. A cursory listen can only hint at the depths contained within these ten songs.

Rebuilding Year is the sort of album that grows on you, and every time I play it, I hear something I haven’t noticed before. It has the potential to touch all sorts of different people, regardless of what styles of music they normally listen to. So maybe it’s good that Bridge And Tunnel have become famous for being part of a scene that is structured around a style of music they don’t really play. Maybe it’ll allow them to reach people who might not otherwise give them a chance.

12:15pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z-FUayFLgpKL
Filed under: Top 20 of 2011