This Day & Age - "The Bell and the Hammer"

Throughout The Bell and the Hammer, Buffalo, NY newcomers This Day & Age blend skillful musicianship with pop sensibility – a task that all too often escapes most young bands. The musicians in This Day & Age are impressive in their ability to navigate the confines of their instruments and stretch beyond those limits. It may seem like a stretch, but the closest comparison that comes to mind is Queen – another band that wrote popular and memorable songs that also featured incredibly talented playing.

“Always Straight Ahead” opens with lively uptempo bass playing from Joey Secchiaroli over a sixteenth note, dancey drum pattern from Steven Padin. Secchiaroli’s bass serves as a strong undercurrent throughout The Bell. Downtempo and emotive heartbreakers are given life by Secchiaroli’s constantly entertaining bass, always in lockstep syncopation with Padin’s drums. “More of a Climb, Less of a Walk” again showcases Secchiaroli’s bass – and deservedly so. This Day & Age have a rhythm section worthy of accolades.

Jeffrey Martin’s lead vocals are laden with reverb and chorus, giving them an ethereal and clouded texture, reminiscent of Elliot’s False Cathedrals. On “Second Star to the Right…” he is at his best, his voice dancing around Padin’s stick and move drumming. Martin’s intelligent lyricism and thoughtful phrasing is a welcome respite from so many of today’s juvenile songwriters. Secchiaroli, Padin and guitarist Michael Carroll also contribute vocals, mostly in the densely layered and effects ridden fashion made popular by Jimmy Eat World on the all-time classic “Clarity.”

Kelly Sciandra’s keyboards are used thoughtfully throughout. The album’s title track is built around a soothing Rhodes line, again kept alive by Secchiaroli, while Sciandra’s conjures images of Chick Corea with his very 70’s melody on the aforementioned “More of a Climb.” The 70’s vibe continues on “Of Course We’ve All Seen the Sun” and the closing “All We Thought We Could.”

“Sara Poor Sara” is too sunny to be written by upstate New Yorkers, but somehow This Day & Age pull of the beachy “OC”-vibe with ease. “Building a Home” features the same sort of classic pop style – like Beach Boys gone emo. “Winter Winter Spring” and “We’ve All Seen the Sun” are further highlights on this outstanding debut.