Artist: Brand New
Song: Daisy Bell (2009)
"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892. As David Ewen writes in American Popular Songs: “When Dacre, an English popular composer, first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged duty. His friend (the songwriter William Jerome) remarked lightly: 'It's lucky you didn't bring a bicycle built for two, otherwise you'd have to pay double duty.' Dacre was so taken with the phrase 'bicycle built for two' that he decided to use it in a song. That song, Daisy Bell, first became successful in a London music hall, in a performance by Katie Lawrence. Tony Pastor was the first one to sing it in the United States. Its success in America began when Jennie Lindsay brought down the house with it at the Atlantic Gardens on the Bowery early in 1892.”
It is said that the song was inspired by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, a British socialite and mistress of King Edward VII.
Brand New biography
From the new album Daisy out September 22, 2009
Brand New's ability to jump between quiet textures and grating, full-throttle passages has been the centerpiece of several albums, but the Long Island boys revisit that formula once again with DAISY. The band's fourth LP begins rather formally, as a classical piano plays beneath a female's prim and proper vocals. Drums, screams, and squelching guitars eventually gatecrash the piano recital, but the effect isn't jarring as much as it is familiar, a tell-tale sign of a band not quite ready to ditch its old habits. Yet despite DAISY's familiar tricks, the band's rage is still fairly convincing, and a handful of slower songs hint at what may lie ahead for future albums. "Bed" is quietly sinister, a minor-key ballad more devoted to nuance and suspense than pure aggression, and "You Stole" is downright gorgeous at points, its fuzzy guitars finding some sort of connection between My Bloody Valentine and '50s surf rock. Brand New may not be completely comfortable with the slow stuff, but DAISY's willingness to experiment is what makes the album so interesting, even as its furious rock songs continue to pack a punch.Rolling Stone (p.75) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The] album avoids genre commonplaces with subtle shadings -- here some Modest Mouse-style whine, there some warped blues riffs."
Spin (p.74) - "[With] jagged art-punk riffs that routinely explode without warning. The sound is old-fashioned, but the fury is fresh."
Entertainment Weekly (p.70) - "Frontman Jesse Lacey can scream; he also packs a poison-drip whisper....An investigation of future stylistic destinations." -- Grade: B
Alternative Press (p.116) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] record that feels half-improvised at times and brutally raw throughout. It's sonically akin to Nirvana's IN UTERO..."
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