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Control
07/08/2002 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Tim Sheridan
Control is a remarkable recording, at once painful to accept and too beautifully executed to ignore. The disc finds Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan continuing his examination of morality, without sinking into simple rhetoric. He does it by imbuing his story-songs with dimensional detail and trademark honesty. There are no simple answers in these songs. The characters lie to each other in the name of caring, equate betrayal with religious ecstasy, and celebrate the meaninglessness of life. In all, the disc works as a dissection of emotional and corporate corruption. In the world of Control, there is always something going on beneath the surface. From the bogus commitment of "Options" to the orgiastic testimonials of "Rapture" to the bleak epiphanies of "Paramedics And Priests," Bazan doesn't let his listener off the hook. He even turns the double entendre of "Penetration," a seeming attack on the heartlessness of the recording industry, into a larger consideration of our everyday callousness. While some might find the subjects a bit ponderous, they will be drawn in by the moody, guitar-driven groove that runs throughout. It's that rare record that both thinks and rocks.
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