Friday Five: 5 Most Important Brand New Songs

With the release of Daisy this week, it's time to gauge the transformation of Brand New. This was hard. Very hard. The changes from this band have been monumental, to say the least, but there were hints all along. These songs portray those changes and perhaps prophesy what's next. And keep in mind, these are NOT necessarily my favorite Brand New songs, just ones that I think show what the band has done the best.

5) "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" from Your Favorite Weapon



Do you understand how far they've come? Do you? Really?




4) "Vices" from Daisy



The rest of the album doesn't match the tone of this opener, but this is the full exorcism of the "Devil" Brand New ripping into their chosen identity in perhaps their heaviest song to date. Here's the direction for whatever follows next.

3) "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" from Deja Entendu



The first indication that all had changed and the perfect example of what was to come. The mumbling staccato lyrics. The now familiar climaxing screams. What was once so revolutionary is now so familiar.

2) "Degausser" from The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me



The perfect culmination, which was started on Deja Entendu, this time enhanced by the haunting choir and the erratic guitar melody of the chorus. All of this in 5:30 minutes would serve as the mainstream world's introduction to the band.

1. "I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light" from Deja Entendu



"Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't" has similar themes and "The Quiet Things That No One Knows" is a better song, but only "I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light" weaves some of the best lyrics this decade with a genre-bending punk structure. Consider:

I wrote more postcards than hooks/ I read more maps than books/Feel like every chance to leave/is another chance I should have took" and "Watch me as I cut myself wide open
on this stage. Yes, I am paid to spill my guts/I won't see home till spring/ Oh, I would kill for the Atlantic, but I am paid to make girls panic while I sing."

It's a complete meta experience that expresses their frustration about unmanageable expectations, while simultaneously mocking themselves, the scene and us. This is the tension that has wrought the madness that is Brand New.