What Am I Missing Here?
I have now given this 4 tries, all at different times in my life. I was probably 12 when I first pretended to like Converge, posting a song on my Myspace profile playlist to seem cool. There were Poison the Well, Misery Signals, and August Burns Red to contend with; and their more melodic, less-chaotic, easily-digestible music won out over what I figured to be overrated noise. I also really liked Ska growing up, so my tastes were very melody-driven.
Once my musical taste starting to mature a bit, and my brain started to make sense of more complex bands, I gave Jane Doe another shot. Nothing resonated. I could listen to The Dillinger Escape Plan and get down to about 45% of what I heard. And as I practiced listening–it took active listening, trust me–my love for Dillinger’s music climbed up to the 95% range. But Jane Doe, that classic, groundbreaking album, still sounded like sheet metal sent through an industrial sized cheese grater. Not good.
Something started changing though; I began to appreciate the screeching, harpy-like vocals of certain singers. I already loved The Black Dahlia Murder’s sometime comedic range of guttural grunts and glass-breaking highs, so expanding my taste wasn’t all that difficult.
About 2013 (ish) I listened to Sunbather by Deafheaven. Ignoring the collective of Black Metal purists who called all Deafheaven listeners pretentious posers, the album was great to me. Sure, it took multiple efforts, but it eventually came around. And so, once again, remembering another album that I have given multiple attempts to, and figuring myself ready, I tried Jane Doe.
And to my surprise: Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Fourth Time’s The Charm?
This is the fourth occasion I have tried. Not really that many times if you think about it given the wide range of years I have been trying, but probably fair enough to warrant a fair critique, right? Because for so long I thought it was a grossly overrated album like Brand New’s The Devil and God, I almost did write it off. These are my thoughts, fourteen or so years after the first listen.
The Musicality of the Album
What does ‘musicality’ even mean to me? I don’t have formal training in music. I play musical instruments, but I am not a musician. I love music, but so does everyone else in the world. The only thing I can adequately judge is by comparing my subjective experience and by using common sense.
It seems apparent to me that Jane Doe is an intense album that doesn’t hold back its aggressive and emotional components. That definitely pushes my assessment in a positive direction, It is raw and honest and that’s what art is supposed to be at the very least, right? But something is still holding me back from truly enjoying it.
It might be a lost cause at this point. Like I have been predisposed to not like the album just because it hasn’t worked out over multiple attempts. I do, after all, have a chronic phobia of missing out. The FOMO is real. And despite the brutal aspects of the album that I enjoy, and last two tracks, overall, something is still missing for me.
The acoustics, the sound, the feel, the atmosphere, the practice space ambiance, everything, checks off the boxes of the thrashy, punkish, metallic blend of my experience. They aren’t going for a “mathy” sound like Dillinger, but they achieve the same sort of segments that show up in Dillinger songs. So, what is my final score, after my fourth and possibly final attempt?
My Final Score
The head-bobbing score is definitely higher than it was five years ago. And there are definitely moments where I am enjoying the music. Hype aside, the album isn’t bad. I am afraid that in the past I was too distracted with being ‘blown away’ to actually analyze the music. I also didn’t really ‘analyze’ all too much in the past. Would just go off of first impression and half-assed listens. Definitely didn’t do my due diligence.
I also feel that context has a lot to do with the quality of the music. There was a quote from someone in Pearl Jam or some other grunge-type band of the time about the aura that surrounded the Seattle scene in the 90’s. How the zeitgeist amplified the quality of the music in a relative way. So, as a cultural artifact, Jane Doe should be rated high objectively. Subjectively though, I still don’t understand it.
I am just going to assume that I am too ignorant in the ways of music to really understand the implications of the album. I am sure there are people out there who also don’t like or understand Calculating Infinity.
Overall, I don’t really have a problem with the sound and style; I just don’t find anything that memorable in the album. For some, this album was a gateway into the world of metal. For others, they tattooed the album art on their arm and walked around preaching the Gospel of Jane Doe. For me, I’ll just stick to my beloved Dillinger Escape Plan.
p.b.s. (post blog script) I know that Dillinger and Converge are two different bands, but they are the two most comparable according to my familiarity with the genre.
Bibliotropism 