After
Burn, Burn it might have been safe to assume that Our Lady Peace had lost their mojo, & were on the downslide, but Curve blows that perception with a fresh new sound, that is comparable to the shift from
Spiritual Machines to
Gravity. An OLP fan since I was 14, I have examined each album (except the mediocre
Burn, Burn) over & over, finding few faults & never failing to be entranced.
Naveed is the gritty one;
Clumsy has hooks;
Happiness... is so lyrically diverse;
Spiritual Machines so beautiful within itself as a whole;
Gravity so focused & powerful; &
Healthy in Paranoid Times, the heartfelt one; where would
Curve fit in???
Curve departs from it predecessors as OLP's most tense & arty album yet. Songs like
Fire in The Hen House &
Window Seat see the return of Raine's "oblique" lyrics & combines them with tight arrangements that truly sound unlike any OLP songs before it.
Heavyweight has the familiar huge chorus that could be found on
Clumsy &
Gravity, with
This is It standing as the ballad on the record &
As Fast as You Can representing them at their most poppy. The album has elements of Spanish guitaring, Pop, Blues & atmospheric Rock, that give the album a unique character. Taking a little from each album before, enfuse it with the flavours of Alt. Rock in 2012, aswell as their signature love of musical evolution & we find Our Lady Peace both capping off a 2nd decade & kicking off a 3rd with a tremendous album.
Best Tracks: Fire in The Hen House; Heavyweight; As Fast as You Can.
