Deja Entendu (French for "already heard")[5] is the second studio album by American rock band Brand New;it was released on June 17,2003,by Triple Crown Records and Razor &Tie. It was widely praised for showing the band's maturation from their pop punk debut Your Favorite Weapon,and critics described the album as the moment when the band "started showing ambition to look beyond the emo/post-hardcore scene that birthed them."[6]
The album received very positive reviews and has since been placed on numerous lists as one of the greatest albums of the decade and from the emo genre.[11][12]
Background
Brand New's second studio album was written in "the year-and-a-half or two years" that they were touring the material from Your Favorite Weapon.[13] According to drummer Brian Lane,"Jesse [Lacey] wrote a lot of the lyrics about different things than 'I just broke up with my girlfriend' for the new record."[13] Lacey wrote the songs on an acoustic guitar in his bedroom.[14]
"I'm surprised that so many bands just keep putting out the same record as they did previously. We try to flex as much of our diversity muscles…as we can," Lacey said about the band's development.[15]
Deja Entendu literally translates to "already heard" in French. Frontman Jesse Lacey told MTV that the title was a "tongue-in-cheek" commentary about the band's music,stating:"No matter who you are or what your band is about,you can't put a record out without people saying it's derivative of something else. So by saying the record's already been heard,it's kind of like saying,'Yeah,you're right. We're doing something that's already been done before.' We're not trying to break new ground in music. We're just trying to make good music."[17] He also said that bands like Sigur Rós and Outkast were uniquely "groundbreaking" as "there is new territory to be charted,but I don't necessarily think that we're the ones to be doing it."[18]
Cover artwork
The cover art for Deja Entendu was designed by musicians Don and Ryan Clark of the band Demon Hunter,who ran the graphic design studio Invisible Creature. The band contacted the studio in early 2003 with just the album's title as a reference point,contacting the studio only once before receiving the final product. Don Clark said in 2015 that,"If I could go back,there are a zillion little things I would do differently. I was much younger (and greener) at the time,so some of the light and shadow work is a bit clunky." However,both Clark and DIY agreed that the cover became an "iconic image" for an album that "from a musical standpoint,was way ahead of its time."[19]
Lyrics and meaning
Several of the song titles reference films. The first track entitled "Tautou" references the lead actress,Audrey Tautou,in the movie Amélie.[20] "Okay I Believe You,But My Tommy Gun Don't" is a line from Home Alone 2:Lost in New York,and "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" is a quote from Wes Anderson's film Rushmore.[21] In addition,the line "And I've seen what happens to the wicked and proud when they decide to try to take on the throne for the crown" (from "Jaws Theme Swimming") is a reference to a line from the 1999 film Dogma,specifically referencing a line of Matt Damon's character Loki. "I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light" is a quote from the Bruce Brooks sports novel The Moves Make the Man,and borrows lines from the song "Chumming the Ocean" by the band Archers of Loaf.
"Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis" is a song that Lacey describes as being about his worst nightmare,turning into a washed-up figure after his prime has ended. The title draws a comparison to Elvis Presley,who died from a drug overdose,and Diego Maradona,who suffered from drug addiction and was accused of domestic violence.[22]
"Guernica",whose title references the Picasso painting of the same name,was written about Lacey's grandfather and his struggle with cancer. Lacey felt guilty about how the band's recording commitments meant that he could not return home to be by his side. "It was a horrible circumstance and I felt very selfish and very bad about the whole thing," he told Rock Sound.[18]
"Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die" criticizes the music industry and "when managers,labels,agents and lawyers get their claws on the prize money".[23] The title came from something that a friend of Lacey said after false rumors of his death created concern among people he had not spoken to in years. "As the band grows,everyone wants to take a piece of us," he said.[18]
The song "Play Crack the Sky" was about the 1951 shipwreck of the FV Pelican at Montauk Point,New York where 45 people died within a mile of the lighthouse. Lacey claimed the song "touches on parts of life that I don't talk about a lot [...] I have grown up around water being from living on Long Island. Surfing,sailing,fishing,that's a huge part of my life apart from the band."[24] The ending of the song is a reference to the run-out groove on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).[25] During a show on his 2007 solo tour with Kevin Devine,Jesse explained that the title was a reference to Mylon LeFevre song "Crack the Sky".
On March 2,2015,the band announced a reissue of the album. It was first released for Record Store Day on April 18 in limited packaging before a wider release on May 5. Both were pressed on 180-gram black vinyl.[29]
Commercial performance
After seven weeks since its release,the album matched Your Favorite Weapon's sales of 51,000 copies.[30] The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on May 29,2007,nearly four years after its original release.
Brand New,who would soon sign with DreamWorks Records (which became incorporated into Interscope Records),were recognized as part of a trend that saw bands labeled as "emo" getting signed to major record label deals in an attempt to sign the next big thing. Spin dubbed this trend "mainstreamo",but Lacey rebuked the hype,believing that "I think it’s all gonna fall through in a year and a half,maybe sooner. This is becoming like ’80s hair metal all over again. All you can really do is try hard to be one of the bands that does manage to stick.”[8] The program director for influential Washington,D.C. rock radio station WHFS noted that "we haven’t reached the point where Puddle of Mudd fans are calling up requesting Brand New.”[8]
Following the album's success,Triple Crown Records knew that they had no chance of re-signing Brand New following the conclusion of their two-album deal. Lyor Cohen,at the time the president of The Island Def Jam Music Group,asked Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly to speak positively about Island Records to Lacey in order to convince Brand New to sign with them. However,Lacey did not believe Rickly,as he noted how the label had told Thursday to rewrite their album War All the Time in order to placate the executives and did not want that happening to Brand New as well. Michael Goldstone,who at the time was leaving DreamWorks Records for Sire Records,told Interscope Records executive Luke Wood to sign Brand New;Wood recalled that "for about six months,every label was trying to sign the band,chasing them all over the world. It was brutal." Vagrant Records had the money to match DreamWorks' offer,but Brand New ultimately signed with DreamWorks/Interscope.[31]
Deja Entendu received very positive reviews from critics,who praised the band's evolution from their debut album.
AllMusic gave Deja Entendu four out of five stars,stating that:
As of 2003,Brand New had sidestepped any notion that they'd be stuck in the prototypical mold found on Your Favorite Weapon. Unlike their debut,Deja Entendu isn't all about bitter breakups and doesn't fall into a permanent punk-pop hole. Produced by Steven Haigler (Pixies,Quicksand),this sophomore effort finds Brand New maturing,reaching for textures and song structures instead of clichés.[3]
Rolling Stone praised the album:"Deja Entendu is an emo masterpiece if ever there was one,applying the intensity of post-hardcore and oddly sexy grooves to sophisticated and impassioned songwriting."[42]
Pitchfork gave the album a positive review,complimenting its "air of substance and maturity" and comparing "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" to The Smiths.[43]
Sputnikmusic gave the album five stars out of five,proclaiming that "We could relate to the way that Lacey screamed "This is the reason you're alone,this is the rise and the fall" at the end of 'Tommy Gun.' We understood the desperation in his voice and the subtle undertones of sexual frustration in 'Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis.' We were just beginning to see how brilliant the lyrics were to 'Play Crack The Sky',a song that simultaneously deals with love,death,and relationships on a singular metaphorical level. These emotions were new to us,and we had a feeling that they meant something to the man singing about them too."[44]IGN rated the album 9.7/10,calling it "probably the best underground release this year."[45]
Accolades
The album ranked at No. 25 on Sputnikmusic's list of the Top 100 Albums of the 2000s,one of two Brand New albums on the list (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me was included at No. 20).[11]Rolling Stone placed the album at No. 19 in their list of the 40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time,ahead of Your Favorite Weapon at No. 29.[12] The album was included in Rock Sound's 101 Modern Classics list at number 21.[46]Rock Sound later wrote the album's "slow burn appeal and genre-defining quality" would define the album as "an emo classic."[2] They also wrote it would become the "blueprint [that] would spawn scores of imitators,[and] make alternative icons of its creators".[2]NME listed the album as one of "20 Emo Albums That Have Resolutely Stood The Test Of Time".[47] In 2022,Loudwire listed it at No. 43 on its list of the 50 Greatest Pop Punk Albums.[4]
In 2023,Billboard named "Okay I Believe You,But My Tommy Gun Don't" as the 29th-best non-single "deep cut" from 2003.[48] The song was also named one of the 15 biggest emo songs from the genre's "mainstream era".[49]
Touring
Shortly after the album's release,Brand New went on a tour of the US in July 2003 with support from Moneen,The Beautiful Mistake and Senses Fail,although tickets went on sale before the album came out and several dates sold out.[50] Following the album's release,Brand New was one of over 40 bands that performed at the 2003 Warped Tour,playing from July 23 to the tour's close on August 10.[15][17] After the Warped Tour,the band opened for Dashboard Confessional's American dates in August.[17] Brand New headlined another tour in late 2003,supported by Hot Rod Circuit and Eisley.[51]
In January 2004,Brand New headlined their first tour of the United Kingdom,supported by Straylight Run and Moneen.[52] In March 2004,Brand New supported Blink-182 on an arena tour of Australia.[53] In May 2004,Brand New returned to the United Kingdom to support Incubus on an arena tour.[53]
Legacy
Jason Tate,the founder of AbsolutePunk,said that "When they put out Deja,it was a completely scene-altering album at the time:what people were listening to,what was being made. It felt like such a shift in style. It was so good that literally overnight,bands were ripping it off and needed to make the next version of it."[31]NME wrote,"The lonely spaceman on its cover said it all…Jesse Lacey and co’s 2003 soul-purging was a punky,Morrisseyian essay on isolation."[47]Rolling Stone explained the album's legacy as the moment when the band "ditched the bottled-up energy of their debut for moody,textured,cavernous numbers that augmented Lacey's acidic lyrics."[12]
Fall Out Boy's primary lyricist Pete Wentz said of Deja Entendu after its release,"This is the future of music,Fall Out Boy is gonna aim towards this." Adam Siska,the bassist for The Academy Is...,noted the album's influence on emo in a 2023 interview:"When Deja came out,nothing was the same. Every band was starting to aim for this intelligent poetic lyricism,this sort of East Coast poetry,with long song titles." Geoff Rickly,the lead singer of Thursday,who had toured with Brand New during the Your Favorite Weapon era,did not believe that Deja Entendu was released by the same band,having written them off as "just this pop-punk band."[31]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Jesse Lacey; all music is composed by Jesse Lacey, except where noted.
↑ Unterberger, Katie Atkinson, Katie Bain, Eric Renner Brown, Thom Duffy, Becky Kaminsky, Carl Lamarre, Jason Lipshutz, Joe Lynch, Rebecca Milzoff, Andrew (April 13, 2023). "The 40 Best Deep Cuts of 2003: Staff Picks". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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