It seems pretty obvious that John Lennon's refrain from "Happy X-Mas (War Is Over)" has fallen on mostly deaf ears in the decades since its release; in fact, it seems as though war itself has become a form of entertainment, the way it's broken down to a few iconographic videogame images: During the Persian Gulf War we saw buildings ringed by laser site positioners obliterated in seconds, but we never saw the bodies that were torn apart by those same explosions. The war was remote and mechanical, an awesome show of force with little human toll, if you believed your television.
War even seems to be regarded by networks these days in the same way that any other form of entertainment is: like any other slice of reality TV programming, a war is a chance to reposition yourself in the ratings. Given the state of television, film and popular culture today, I'd say "Entertainment Is Over" is nearly as hopeful a statement as its ancestor. Of course, I don't know if this is what the band thinks, though I suspect some similar sentiment lies at the heart of their decision to name the album that; addressing societal malaise doesn't seem to be at the heart of what the Swords Project are all about. Ultimately, these six Oregonians want you to smash your head on the post-rock and enter their world for about forty minutes, to turn the blinders on. Their self-titled debut EP established them as a sort of gentler, subtler West Coast Mogwai, with a Godspeed-y concept of tension and release in some well-conceived arrangements.
While that EP sported some very understated vocals, it didn't suggest singing was a big priority for the band, and given their genre, it was pretty easy to assume it wasn't. Strangely, though, they've opted to play this card more often on their first full-length, though it's virtually never the center of attention. One wonders why the band sends bassist Corey Fickens up to the microphone at all; he has a good voice, but he's rarely intelligible or accomplishing anything that, musically speaking, a viola player couldn't add in his place. The Swords seem desperately to want a human focal point for their sound, but it really isn't necessary. It's not really distracting, either, it's just an odd tactical move.
Apart from the vocals, we find the band soaring over much the same ground as before, though they've developed their texture a little more fully this time around. There are no absolute standouts like the stunning bowshot "Shannon's Wedding Song" from their EP, but they're wandering less these days, building their songs with more precision. The drums have an open, room mic sound, behaving texturally as much as rhythmically while Rhodes keys and electronics bubble around the edges.
The big statements are left mostly to Liza Reitz's violin, and guitarists Ryan Stowe and Jeffrey Gardner, who are deeply, completely in tune with each other. Neither guitar ever moves too far into the other's space, and they frequently play off each other, with one laying down cosmic soundscapes while the other states a theme or cues the rest of the band to action. Closer "New Shapes" sounds as though it's drowning, the guitars surfacing through the translucent production for gasps of air, while the drums flail like helpless limbs, kicking up the foam that eventually brings everything back to the surface.
Entertainment Is Over If You Want It ends there, scarcely above water, struggling to breathe and regain its bearings. As the electronics sputter to an end, it feels like an appropriate close, and satisfies the notion somewhere inside me that globally, things are spinning out of control, and in the process, downward. Entertainment isn't over-- neither is war-- but you can join in the hopeful refrain that beckons the end.
