Now for all of you who haven't heard of Reckoner need to get a listen of their debut album "Ïnvisible" right now. I'd have to say this is one of the best debuts of a band in the history of UK Music...considering it was recorded in only a week and was rushed into release two weeks later!!! At first you might think of it as just another rock album, but as I listened even more closely, I found something unique in the lyrics of the songs and the music overall so i think it's a pretty good album...
Oxygen is a slow pop like song consisting mainly of JC Anderson's piano and Troy Mascenon's acoustic guitar. The song as explained by the band is about all the simple things in life. Looking deeper into the song, I realized that the song is the point of view of this average person, who is afraid of the time when glaciers would melt and the world would be submerged in water, so he leaves behind all he ever had, his car, his home, and lives a simple life in the countryside.
One of my most favorite tracks in the album is their ever-so-famous Negative. The song begins with eerie guitar arpeggios by Carl Morrisson backed by JPC's groovy bassline and Tristan Fuller's light drumming progressing into a clash of the guitars with JC and Troy's heavily distorted guitars playing during the chorus and the bridge. The song is about Troy's depression as a child and his life under pressure. "The song is a feel-good song for me, I made it at those times when I felt really depressed and just needed something to hold on to, and that's what Negative is", Troy explains.
Another fave track of mine is Comatose.The song is the darkest song in the entire album but it also has got to be one of the best. The song progresses from synth guitar and pianos to distorted guitars and cymbal crushing drums.The song is about Troy's dream where he was stuck in a room and tried to get out but realized that he was paralyzed and couldn't move a muscle."It was a pretty scary experience for me, I hate those dreams where I feel so helpless, it makes me even weaker by the minute. Luckily I have stopped having those dream and I believe that was related to my depression state", Troy explains with a serious look on his face.
Scream is the band's only song to have been written during the recording process. It consists mainly of heavy guitars and is heavily influenced by Nirvana,Pearl Jam, and other grunge acts. "On day 4 of the recording sessions, we had finished recording 6 songs and we needed 4 more to record to complete the album. At day 6 we had completed 9 songs and needed one more song to finish it all off but we had no more songs to record so we hurriedly made a new song, after a joke to make something like Smells Like Teen Spirit, and that's how Scream came in and maybe that's what Scream is all about, being hurried and pressured into doing something, something that makes you scream."
Falling Away From You is a personal song about Troy. "The song ,mainly, is about the conflict of the mind, body, and soul. It's about losing your old self and turning into something you are not. It is the oldest song from the band and I believe I wrote it back when I was 11 after a fight with a good friend of mine who told me I was changing into something she didn't like, now we're still good friends and the arguement has been long forgotten", the song's emotional lyrics and melody is layered by clean guitars and its main attraction is the one high note Troy is able to maintain during the bridge of the song.
Nothing Touches Me is my favorite song off the album. The song isn't too complicated and not even too simple, its just the right formula, and reminds me of the 80s very much with Troy singing in a Bono-esque voice and JC's keyboard frenzy."The song, and I guess you all haven't realized, was about my irritability with salespeople in the malls. I usually don't go to malls since all the "scenekids" are there and they just piss me off but we have some times when we are really in need to do something even though you dislike it so much.Usually I go to the mall to buy some clothes, food or anything else I'd need, I always have this feeling of irritation when someone comes close to me and entertains me or sells something to me even though I never asked for anything. No offence to those people since they're just doing there job, but I just want to be alone",everybody begins to laugh.
Rain is a simple song following a simple chord progression and a simple melody, in other words Rain is a simple song. That is what ignorant people might say about Rain, but I personally believe that Rain is one of the most special tracks on the album. The background of the song(if you have the chance to turn the other instrument's volumes low) is a recording of actual rain. The song consists of guitars, guitars and even more guitars."If you haven't noticed, we actually used 4 guitars in this song, two for the rhythm, one for the lead, and one just to add extra distortion because its just so...Lovely",JC says in a half serious and half joking face.
Speaking of guitars, Strike is one of the most mind blowing songs ever made and this is considered Reckoner's fave track off the album."If you asked us what our favorite track off the album, we would all respond with Strike", says Troy. Strike begins with a bluesy riff by Carl bursting into a guitar rock opera in the ending."The song is about our hatred for our own school. Our school looked like a multisecured facility for juvenile delinquents, it was the worst experience I have had in my life, luckily we were able to survive all the years we've been in their and this song is about how f***** up that school was... Would you edit the f*** out or just let it be?", everybody bursted into laughter.
Broken is an acoustic solo song. It's about Troy's failed relationship with his past girlfriend and how he was broken by everything that had happened.
Last and not the least is fan favorite Bring Me Down. The song begins with a 5 second drum intro by Tristan leading into 'chaotic,psychadelic, guitar noises'."The song is about the same girl in Broken and this is more of heavy hatred for her instead of feeling sorry for myself. The song originally didn't have all those guitar noises, but JC decided to sneak it in while we all were in a break, and it was good since it added that extra feel of wanting to destroy something that had destroyed you, its PAYBACK TIME!"
OVERALL:
After that great interview and after listening to the album, I would give the album a rating of 4/5 stars. It was a great album overall, it still had some flaws but maybe it was because of the rushed recording process, maybe if they'd record an album in more amount of time and better quality they'd get into the top spot of the charts!
-Huey Luey(NME)
