Loud Planes Fly Low isn't a break-up album. It may be the Rosebuds' first release since the divorce of founding members Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard, but it's not your typical aggregation of romantic grievances set to minor keys. In fact, they avoid blame and accusation altogether in favor of a more generous and balanced accounting of loss and renewal. After all, the duo decided to continue its musical partnership, which entailed figuring out how they could work together solely as bandmates. Loud Planes documents not the dissolution but the redefinition of their relationship; it's a staying-together album, which not only makes it much more interesting but provides a persuasive argument for their musical compatibility.
The two have always made their relationship part of the band's story: Crisp and Howard formed the Rosebuds the week they got married in 2001, adopted stage/married names Kelly and Ivan Rosebud, and titled their debut The Rosebuds Make Out. Even in post-split, the band is still bound up in its dynamic, as they try to find new ways to dramatize their relationship musically. Loud Planes alternates their vocals in a he said/she said sequencing, as if pleading their cases to each other and to the listener; no matter who takes the lead, the other sings in the background, as if nodding in sympathy or understanding. "I want to feel something way out here," Crisp sings on "Come Visit Me", which has the low-key vibe of a 2 a.m. phone call. "I need something to happen now, even if it fucks me up." She trails off on that last phrase, as if reluctant to consider the consequences, but the sharp edge of desperation in her voice makes it one of her most urgent performances to date. Howard describes his own efforts at reconciliation on "Waiting For You": "I tried to make a start, and I tried to come around." He doesn't need to tell you he wasn't exactly successful.
Loud Planes Fly Low is an album about change-- not necessarily good or bad, just necessary and inevitable and immense. Especially coming after 2009's lively Life Like, which was based on demos they recorded for their own amusement, these new songs sound purposefully gray and somber, with cautious tempos and subdued melodies. The atmosphere is thoroughly melancholy, which is understandable, but at times the album sounds acutely oppressive-- like trying to breathe on another planet. Even on closer "Worthwhile", there's no release, no conclusion or epiphany to throw everything into sharp relief. Perhaps that's the nature of Crisp and Howard's partnership now: never quite settled, never quite comfortable. But for the listener, Loud Planes may sound oddly open-ended-- a transition album in every sense.
