THE BRAINS
Electronic Eden
[Mercury]

About four years ago an Atlanta musician and a writer were drinking a beer at Atlanta's (then) only rock club before the musician's band was set to perform. A tall, blonde fellow with glasses walked into the club and approached the two. The musician told the writer, "This is a friend of mine, Tom Gray. He's putting a band together called 'The Brains.' You're going to be hearing a lot from them in the future." Well, the future is now, and with the release of The Brains' second LP, that prophecy just may be coming true.

Electronic Eden offers a more diversified yet defined effort than The Brains' debut, providing a keener glimpse into their songs of urban life and love. And while the variety of songs crosses a broader musical spectrum (compare "Dream Life" to "Heart in the Street"), the overall sound of the record is more tailor-made to The Brains' approach thanks to Steve Lillywhite’s production. (Lillywhite obviously spent more time listening to and working with the songs this time around than he did while producing their first LP.) As well, it is immediately noticeable that Tom Gray's vocals have developed from the frantic, searching mode of the past to a more comfortable, yet forceful style suiting the needs of each song.

Basically this is a rock and roll record (a heavy beat complemented by guitars and keyboards) that takes threads from the past woven with present day ideas and technology to produce accessible music with a touch of intelligence. The influences are all here, from a bit of "roots" rock to the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music ("Hypnotized" sounds more like Roxy than Roxy these days).

While most of Electronic Eden deals with the consequences of personal love, promise and despair within the human and social condition, as well as the hardened reality they entail, there is a certain amount of naiveté running through much of the imagery leading us to believe there is hope.

-Tony Paris

(with apologies to J.R.)