Kurt Cobain ended his life with a shotgun blast 15 years ago, but his pioneering work with Nirvana continues to influence modern rock.
One of the Seattle band's trademarks was its soft-loud approach — an explosion of instrumentation followed by relative calm, then repeated for effect.
You can hear the Nirvana's soft-loud structure throughout Manchester Orchestra's sophomore album, "Mean Everything to Nothing." Then again, perhaps Manchester Orchestra was inspired by orchestral music, which has been doing the whole soft-loud thing for centuries.
The Atlanta group (at Club Congress on Saturday night) recorded its latest album last year in Atlanta and Nashville, Tenn. It's the follow-up to its 2006 debut, "I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child."
The band comes out charging with "The Only One" and "Shake It Out," an opening combo that demonstrates the band's range.
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"The Only One" has a classic-rock feel, bringing to mind My Morning Jacket, only with more hand claps. "Shake It Out" introduces the band's heavier side, which matures later on in the form of "Pride," a sludgy stoner-rock tune that recalls acts such as Black Mountain.
On "Shake It Out," singer Andy Hull sounds like a genetic blend of My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, the Used's Bert McCracken and Conor Oberst. The band answers with hard-beating rhythms and frenetic freakouts.
Manchester Orchestra slows down for the melodic and hooky "I've Got Friends," but it still can't resist its urge to rock out near the end.
After about six songs, the band's habit of finishing songs in loud mode becomes predictable and grating.
Even on the short "100 Dollars," which begins as a simple coed duet over a soft guitar, Hull breaks out into wailing halfway through.
One of the exceptions to the soft-loud rule is the swinging "I Can Feel a Hot One," which may be Hull's strongest contribution as a lyricist. His words seem drug-related but retain a dignified ambiguity.
"So I prayed for what I thought were angels, ended up being ambulances," he sings. "And the Lord showed me dreams of my daughter; she was crying inside your stomach."
A hidden acoustic track at the end, "Jimmy, He Whispers," resembles a Bright Eyes B-side. It's a welcome departure from the band's formula.
Sometimes you just need to let things breathe a little.
CD Review
"Mean Everything to Nothing," Manchester Orchestra. Sony Music.
