Jets to Brazil

Four Cornered Night

Jade Tree

Four Stars

Jets to Brazil took the independent music scene by storm in 1998, before ever playing a single note. Featuring former Jawbreaker vocalist/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach, Jets to Brazil automatically was heralded as "the new Jawbreaker band." In the same year, the Jets released ••Orange Rhyming Dictionary••, a solid mixture of edgy pop, soothing guitar and poetic lyrics. Although a letdown to people wanting another Jawbreaker release, the album received considerable praise in most musical circles.

Which brings us to Four Cornered Night, the second, and perhaps more compelling album, from Jets. Where the band's first release might have been more straightforward, Night is slightly more musical in that more attention has been paid to the intricacies of the songs, rather than full-on rocking. Restraint is the key, and Jets to Brazil has embraced it with all its might.

The opening track, "You're Having the Time of My Life," could serve as the bridge between Orange Rhyming Dictionary and Night. It displays both pop hooks and new instrumentation, signaling the band's musical progression. Perhaps more evident are Schwarzenbach's lyrical confessions, which reveal both insecurities and feelings of awkwardness from being held to higher standards as a band member. Schwarzenbach is keenly aware of the escapism of writing and performing, as he writes "You write the lie you'd like to be, when your life feels like a book you wouldn't read."

Although the first few tracks of Four Cornered Night might not be as poppy as the first disc, they remain catchy enough to stay in your head forever. The fifth track, "In the Summer's When You Really Know," is a meandering slow track about yearning for the summer's best moments. With potentially over-sappy lines like "If I cried a river just for you, would you swim in it some sunny afternoon," delivered with such sincerity, the song is undeniably beautiful.

The disc is not all flowers and birds, though, as evidenced in the song "You're X-rays Have Just Come Back From the Lab and We Think We Know What Your Problem Is." The song begins slowly, but eventually crashes into Schwarzenbach screaming "I gotta get some release!"

Perhaps this is the perfect summation of Four Cornered Night. The songs are screaming to release pent-up frustration, sadness and loneliness. Yet, they are somehow beautifully restrained into crafty piano-guitar ditties and confessional acoustic numbers. Sounds a lot like the everyday masking of emotions that occurs in regular life.

-Steve Kehnel