The Rosebuds
Life Like
Merge Records
By Rusty Roberts
From the first time I saw them at the Talking Head in Baltimore during the spring break of 2004, I have had nothing but a fulfilling and meaningful relationship with The Rosebuds. That night was so life-changing; from the opening moments of “El Camino,” to the shredding final moments of “Drunkard’s Worst Nightmare,” to that lead in to the big let down of “Big Heartbreak” that ended their set. Their music quickly became a part of my regimen. Over the next four years, the married duo of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp would release albums that would expand their palette, broadening the horizons that first rose on The Rosebuds Make Out. While the Unwind EP is one of the greatest pieces of chill-the-fuck-out music that has bookends that make people want to shake their groove thing, it was last year’s Night Of The Furies that showed a different side to the couple from Raleigh. It was not your mom’s Rosebuds record – sunny guitars and dance tunes for your beach party were gone, as the band grabbed synths and drum machines and made a record deeply rooted in the dark new wave and romanticism of the mid ‘80s.
A year and a half later, the band has emerged with Life Like, an album that no one expected so soon, not even the band. After finishing off a set of demos at home, their friends came by to help them flesh it out and a new record was ready before they knew it.
Life Like is made up of trials and tribulations; pianos that are grand and that are toy. Acoustic guitars return to the forefront while they were left by the wayside during last year’s Furies. Crisp sings more than ever before, with her bark and howl more present than ever. It might make fans start to question who is supporting who, who really is the lead singer if there even is one. Howard and Crisp seem to work best on the back and forth of a song like “Bow To The Middle”. As Crisp gives the dance instruction chorus for the ol’ square dance we all learned in PE, Howard takes on the verses himself with his oh so familiar southern croon.
And while the band have a record finding them returning to form, they still find moments where they blend those sunny days in the sand with those storm-addled nights. The title track opens up the record with a brooding guitar and synth line, as the love birds sing together. At times Howard is more subdued than Crisp, especially in the chorus as she tackles a falsetto. things apparently getting to her. The warm and inviting, yet at times moody tone of “Border Guards” is a song that could easily be on 2005’s Birds Make Good Neighbors with its big drums in an empty room competing for space with Howard’s harmonies. At the center is the woeful tale of loss in the song “Nice Fox.” While Howard eulogizes, Crisp leads the mourners to exclaim ‘It don’t mean nothing at all’ in a call and response style of delivery.
The album’s concise and brief nature of 10 songs in just over a half hour seems to work to their advantage. While the first half is a near perfect piece of Rosebuds history, the second half goes on another journey. “Concordia Military Club” sounds like an old throw away, and the instrumental, whistling Dixie of “Hello Darlin’” are just stepping stones to the grand closer “In The Backyard.” What was once a hard to find track is now tacked on to the end of Life Like, re-recorded but still fully intact are its important parts. Kids with Ouija boards, Jim Morrison, and a haunting set of wind chimes and a Casio tone send this record off in to the yards and woods for some on their search for escape and redemption. And in some cases, like mine, it sends them back to the beginning to start the process of being Life Like over again.
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