The Airborne Toxic Event

Recently a friend of mine, told me that she saw this band at 107.7 End Fest in Seattle, WA, and thought I would be into them. After grabbing a CD and listening to their tracks, I found that I enjoyed them.... but it wasn't because they were unique, but because they sounded like so many other groups which I enjoy.


The Airborne Toxic Event is an American indie rock band from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz that consists of singer/song writer and guitarist Mikel Jollett, guitarist and keyboardist Steven Chen, bassist Noah Harmon, drummer Daren Taylor, and keyboardist and violist Anna Bulbrook. Named after a section of the book White Noise, by Don DeLillo, the group brings in string instruments and keyboards, along with a standard rock lineup of guitar, drums, and bass guitar which has a baroque indie rock sound at times.

As I mentioned previously, the album itself lends itself to many contemporary popular artists. The themes and stories of the songs presented by Mikel and the Airborne Toxic Event are not new or significantly radical - however Mikel's lyrics have an ability to come across as articulate and poetic, and not vapid or pretentious as can be the case with many indie rock groups... unfortunately they aren't perfect by any means, and sometimes fall into the trap of trying to be way more deep than they actually are.

The lyrics and writing have Mikel Jollett to thank, the groups frontman, and band founder. Previously Jollett's forte was fiction writing, and he had also earned additional income as a freelance writer, contributing to organizations such as NPR, Los Angeles Times, Filter Magazine and Men’s Health.

The first song on the album, Wishing Well is unfortunately pretty predictable. Mikel Jollett has a whiny, angsty voice, which is precariously balanced between being way too emo and annoying, or dark, brooding and appealing. What always stands out to me in this album, the whole time is the lyrics. Mikel isn't a classically trained opera singer, however ONLY his voice can bring depth, and meaning to his words. Check this out:
"You wanna run away, run away
Just get on the fucking train and leave today
And it doesn't matter where you spend the night
You just might end up somewhere in a fight, in a fight
Or caught in your room on a concrete shelf
Fighting all alone, with yourself, with yourself
And you just wanna feel like a coin that's been tossed
In a wishing well, a wishing well." (excerpt Wishing Well - Mikel Jollett)

His sarcasm is apparent, and a lot of these songs on the album almost sound autobiographical.

As I stated before, even though the sound of the band, and the presentation are nothing new - (you can compare these guys to the Baroque indie sound of Arcade Fire; the minimalistic pop rock of the Strokes; the alternative sound of the Killers; and also the extravagantly emotional vibes of Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes) - the lyrics are where this album gains some ground.

Jollet's vocals are almost a little too low during the second song of the album - 'Papillon'. Furthermore, the lyrics in this song were a little too predictable and formulaic. If you broke it down into a poem, all the lines are pretty much AABB, AABB, etc. etc. etc. - with cute little rhyming ends to make the song flow musically and rhythmically.

"Then we're out the door in an hour more (A)
We stumble down from the second floor (A)
And we're swaying, braying (B)
We don't know what we're saying" (B)

And I wish I had the guts to scream (A)
You know, things aren't always what they seem (A)
When you walk away, I want to stay (B)
Don't leave me here to pace and pray (B)

Etc. Etc. - this is stuff you would learn in a Poetry 101 course, and I would have expected more from a seasoned writer like Mikel Jollett. However, I don't hate the song, and even though I can pick out a lot of stuff to criticize - it doesn't mean this is a bad album. The song is almost remarkably like The Strokes (Barely Legal anyone??)

Stand out tracks for me on 'The Airborne Toxic Event' were the single, 'Sometime Around Midnight', and the tracks 'Does This Mean You're Moving On?' and 'Something New.' Sometime Around Midnight, starts off with a moody string quartet which then drops off to a whispering guitar - with Jollett's sensitive vocals reaching out over the top. The song gradually builds through various musical tiers - complete with increasingly more emotional vocals and sweeping strings to make the song more significant. It's a great formula for getting people to feel that your music is more deep - and honestly it works for Airborne Toxic Event in this song. The whole song is about a night out turned sour when an ex squeeze walks into the room. It is an easily recognizable and relateable situation. Even though I've laid out the formulas and gimmicks they used in a negative tone, I really enjoyed the track and the lyrical journey which Jollett took me on throughout it.

By far, the jangly pop rock feel of 'Does This Mean You're Moving On?' is my favorite track on the album. The Drive and the almost self-mockery of the lyrics make it a worth while listen.

The song 'Something New' is a nice little interlude track in the latter part of the album, and Jollet's vocals with violist Anna Bulbrook are a beautiful mix.

Other songs on the album, 'This is Nowhere'(sounds a bit like the Killers), 'Missy' (Sounds like Conor Oberst, and Bright Eyes), 'Innocense' (sounds like Arcade Fire, Funeral)... are all predictable, but enjoyable.

Pitchfork Media's Ian Cohen gave a scathing review of Airborne Toxic Events album: "Throughout, the Airborne Toxic Event show a surface-level familiarity with early 00s critics lists, but aren't able to convey what made those much-lauded recods emotionally resonant. Can't convert unthinkable tragedy into cathartic, absolutely alive music like Arcade Fire? Just steal the drum pattern from "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"? Can't connect with the listener with the same fourth-wall busting intimacy as Bright Eyes? That's when you trot out the run-on sentences and get all tremulous when you mean it, man. And that's just the first song."

He goes on to say:

"In a way, The Airborne Toxic Event is something of a landmark record....- often sounding more inspired by market research than actual inspiration. Congrats, Pitchfork reader-- the Airborne Toxic Event thinks you're a demographic."

Look here to check out the whole review: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145326-the-airborne-toxic-event-the-airborne-toxic-event

Even though I felt that Ian Cohen's depiction of this album was more of Cohen flexing his 'Critic Muscles' and bashing the LA Scene more than objectively looking at the album as a separate piece of art, Cohen makes some important points. Airborne Toxic event are nothing new. They can become quite formuliac, and play it really safe at times - pandering to previously established popular music. (as I mentioned previously, Conor Oberst, Killers, Arcade Fire, Strokes, etc.)

However this isn't a reason to hate them, or dislike the album. In fact, I listened to this album for a week straight and it never left my record player. I guess what really matters about this album is expectations:

The Airborne Toxic Event may not be as deep as they may want you to believe, and their sound might not be as unique as their publicists may want you to believe, but the Airborne Toxic Event are a good group. I would recommend this album to anyone who enjoyed any of the previously named groups which A.T.E sound like. It is almost certainly guaranteed that you will enjoy this group, and dig their sound.

On a side note - there Myspace is also a great place to visit. They have acoustic versions of all the songs from their current release, except 'The Winning Side' - all they all sound great. I almost wish that they would release a separate acoustic album with these tracks since I enjoyed them so much. Once the major label production and gimmicks have been stripped away, the band is solid, and has some real serious value to them. It just sucks that the label probably got carried away with making the album more 'marketable....'



I'm actually looking forward to their next release whenever that may be.