Queer rockers go loud on new CD with gay and straight tracks that deliver
CROSSING OVER | Combing straight and gay sensibilities on their new album, indie rockers Szilenze bridge a gap in popular music with epic style.
RICH LOPEZ | Contributing Writer
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3.5 out of 5 stars
SHUT UP AND LISTEN
Szilenze Independent
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For their second album, Szilenze makes a point with the title alone. In Shut Up and Listen, the group shows gains in their song structuring and instrumentation. While the pacing gets iffy at times, the album is a graduation for the indie rockers who rep some major queer cred.
As the album’s launching pad, the self-titled opening title track should burst out of the gate. But the band holds back on making the anthem it seemed destined for, and the song instead serves more as a prologue. That early stumble is quickly recovered with the poignant “Take This Life.”The song ebbs and flows from rocker to ballad with intricate guitar work throughout. An empowering lyric like You’ve nothing to prove / just be the you that’s inside never plays as schmaltz. Szilenze fuses killer edge with a feel good message.
The band flirts with metal, goth and steampunk elements but they have a penchant — whether they know it or not — to give songs some pop structure. Their outlandish outfits and album art don’t immediately read as accessible, but they make up for it with fascinating tracks like “Dear John.” The guitars and drums are heavy as hell, but amid the song’s muscle, the band weaves a melody that ties the song together.
Szilenze falters with “Popular,” which vocalizes some repressed teen angst that plays with a forced bent. (Whether intentional or accidental, the guitar riff recalls the Beverly Hills 90210 theme music.) Music can be cathartic but the band seems too mature for this as they prove in the later ballad “Once Upon a Time.”
What’s remarkable about Szilenze is their straddling of queer and straight. Regardless that band members Spencer Fellner and Roxanna Jeske identify as LGBT, the band as a whole gives voice to each member. This leaves room for songs like “Dear John” and the aggressive and blatant “Mr. Right Now.” Hard rockers need anonymous hook ups, too, and here the band doesn’t hold back with No time for talking just fucking / fuck my face, and we’re all the better for it.
Shut Up and Listen is overall a fascinating epic. The rough edges of indie music are apparent. Vocal qualities aren’t quite there yet, and they somehow manage to go balls out in some parts and hesitant in others. But Szilenze is loud in its determination. It has heart and are comfortable with both queer and non-queer voices, which say something far more.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 16, 2014.
