"Sometimes I wonder if because I make a lot of jokes here, people might think we don't take our music seriously…" Tweeted Jesse Cohen from his band Tanlines' account earlier this month, in anticipation of the Brooklyn synth-pop duo's debut full-length release, Mixed Emotions. "Simply put, neither Eric [Emm] nor I have ever taken anything in our whole lives more seriously than the work we put into this album," Cohen continued. "It couldn't possibly mean more to us. I don't think I need to be super pretentious for you to know that, but sometimes I just want to say it."
Part of the reason Cohen felt the need to clarify was likely because @Tanlines doesn't look like your typical musician's Twitter feed, focusing more on clever observational jokes rather than self-promotion. In turn, it has gained them more than a few followers who are clearly unaware that the Tanlines account belongs to a working band and not a comedian. Cohen's message contained a surprisingly heartfelt sentiment coming from a handle usually known for material like, "Just had a landline-to-landline conversation #90s." But try as he might to separate his Twitter account from his band's music, the truth is Mixed Emotions and @Tanlines have more in common with each other than Cohen would likely admit. Mixed Emotions contains some truly great tracks that work terrifically as standalone singles, as carefully composed and satisfying as a well-constructed quip, almost always augmented by a good-natured undercurrent of earnest, welcome sentimentality. And while everything in between may feel like a contextually empty @-reply or obligatory retweet, it makes for an uneven listen that still amounts to more than what that ever-present winky-sad emoticon might suggest.
Tanlines are clearly capable of writing great songs. Between a few singles and 2010's Settings EP, we were given a handful of warm, Balearic-tinged tracks with an extra dancefloor-ready boost thanks to Afro-pop and Tropicália detailing. One of the more notable standouts, "Real Life", shows up again on Mixed Emotions, and while its replay value makes its inclusion seem perfectly logical, it does reveal what some might consider to be a strike against the band. There is little denying that Tanlines' sound is, for all intents and purposes, beholden to a place and a time (see: Brooklyn, 2010). With "Real Life" fitting in so well with the rest of the new material, it's pretty clear that Mixed Emotions has been an immersive project, so much so that it uses the same building blocks on which Cohen and Emm propped up the Tanlines project a few years ago.
But being hard on Tanlines for not being progressive is a waste of time when, pretty frequently, the pair is able to use gratifying sonic details, big choruses, and large pop pleasure-center targets, all of which help manage to occasionally hit emotionally rich sweet spots. Opener and lead single "Brothers" is as good a place to start as any, with the amniotic warmth of its bass and New Order-styled synth flourishes. "Brothers" takes its name from the first studio Tanlines ever recorded in, but it also works when translated as a reflection of a friendship over the years. "I'm just the same as I ever been/ But I'm the only one who doesn't notice it," goes the chorus. A lot of Mixed Emotions contains similar thematic elements in its lyrics, full of vague, open-ended questions that seem most applicable for people verging on a mid-mid-life crisis. But because of their opaqeuness, the simplest turns of phrase-- when left open for interpretation-- give the album a sort of emotional adaptability. For such a rhythmically-oriented affair, these smears of melancholy offer necessary balance.
Mixed Emotions aims for the heart and the gut (though aside from "Real Life", not so much the hips, which is a bit disappointing), but in missing easy opportunities to connect with either lies the record's biggest problems. In the way most of these songs are structured, there's a real need for some kind of release, a way to tip things over the edge and open the songs up. You get a wonderfully redemptive feel from tracks like the gigantic, aching "Not the Same", and it's largely because there's some very tangible emotional payoff in the chorus. "All of Me" and the saccharine "Lost Somewhere" both fall victim to simply not being big enough, which is especially hard to overlook when there's evidence that these guys can pull off big. By presenting itself as being a vivid and borderline-anthemic kind of album, you can't help but feel a bit frustrated when the songs fail to make good on the promise. Exemplified by the driving "Green Grass", it means to give you a charge and push you forward, but instead creates the sensation of running in place.
Which is, in some ways, preferable to the songs that never even have a chance to get off the ground. A lot of Mixed Emotion's direct influence lies in a very specific corner of classic rock radio, plucking rather indiscriminately from the Police, Peter Gabriel, and Paul Simon. A number of acts over the past few years have been paid substantial dividends in channeling these names, but Cohen and Emm seem bent on rendering out the most honeyed details, leaving some of these tracks nauseously buoyant. Had they been a bit more inconspicuous with the references (the lovely "Abby" being a nice example), Vitamin D-enriched tracks like "Lost Somewhere" and the unnecessarily stripped-down "Yes Way" wouldn't begin to reek like so much potpourri.
Fortunately, the record's second half really picks things up, with the appealingly straightforward, new romantic-shaded rock track "Rain Delay" and the spatial new wave ballad "Nonesuch" at the close. These tracks don't hit the same highs that "Not the Same" or "Brothers" do, and that's okay. It can be easy to forget that, while you're constantly waiting for that big payoff, most of these songs are really pretty damn good. Tanlines have never had a problem with the set-up, but it's in the delivery where the occasionally falter.
