I just saw X Ambassadors Tuesday night when they opened
up for Jimmy Eat World at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland. I had not heard of
them previously, but I had searched for the opener, and so had listened to
their EP, Love Songs Drug Songs a few times prior to the show.
They're okay. They don't rock as hard as I tend to
prefer. The songs are a little more reflective, perhaps, and perhaps a bit
moodier.
The best example of this may be their song
"Litost", which was used on the soundtrack for the movie The Host (not
the Korean one; the Stephenie Meyer one). The overture is hauntingly beautiful,
and if the rest of the song does not quite live up to it, it nonetheless
maintains the mood. I thought perhaps it might have been written for the movie,
and since there are aliens and identity issues (this is from reading about the
movie; I have not seen the movie or read the book, and I expect that to
continue), then maybe that made sense. That was not the case.
Doing a search on "litost", the most common
translation seems to be "a state of torment upon by the realization of
one's inadequacy or misery", though "humiliation" comes up a lot
too. It seemed odd that people would know an obscure Czech word about misery,
and use it for a song title, but then I saw that most of the material about it
referenced a Milan Kundera novel. Suddenly it felt like everything made sense.
(I liked the information at http://fictionofnature.blogspot.com/2008/09/litost.html,
including the comment which argues against that definition, best.)
Again, that's not to say that the band is not good; they
are just headed in a different direction than I am. I am also not calling them
pretentious, because I did not feel that at all (though they might be
influenced by things that I would call pretentious, and take them seriously).
I did like them better live than recorded, and while they
don't have a lot of videos, there is an unplugged video for
"Unconsolable" (sic), and I think that gives you the best approximation of
what listening to them and watching them is like.
I feel there is a faint praise problem here, and that is
not my intent. X Ambassadors did not annoy me, and that is no small thing.
Their songs are interesting between each other, so it never cloyed, and when
you are listening to the same six songs multiple times, it is very easy for
that to happen. "Brother" is really majestic. There is something
interesting here. I know there is an audience for them, I'd like them to find
it.
The crowd responded well to them at the show, and even if
I wasn't swept away, I liked it. I can't always say that.
Love Songs Drug Songs is available through Amazon and iTunes.
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