Brilliant! Tragic!

“Play what you know!” Eddie Argos shouts during “Clever Clever Jazz,” the song that not only opens Brilliant! Tragic!, but sets up its meta context as well. Art Brut may still be extremely self-aware, but the band spends plenty of time trying new things on this album, and they picked a crucial time to do it. Despite the very real charms of It’s a Bit Complicated and Art Brut vs. Satan, it often felt like the band was trying to recapture the brilliance of Bang Bang Rock & Roll with diminishing returns. They start to move out of that album’s shadow with more expansive songs that give Argos’ monologues the space they deserve as well as room for an extended guitar solo or two. He seems particularly inspired throughout Brilliant! Tragic!, with observations ranging from the poignant “I want to be played in the background/whilst couples drink their wine” on the manifesto for egalitarian sex appeal “Sexy Sometimes” to the uniquely scathing “I bet he signs his name in Comic Sans!” on “Bad Comedian,” a study in harboring not just jealousy over an ex’s new boyfriend, but an all-consuming disgust. There’s a sharper edge not just to Argos’ observations, but to his voice as well: he explores a sotto voce rasp that has more in common with Jarvis Cocker or Luke Haines than his usual full-throated bellow. “Is Dog Eared” presents all of Brilliant! Tragic!’s experiments in one song to striking effect, as Argos compares himself to an old book with whisper-to-a-shout vocals over six minutes of bass-heavy dance-punk. Art Brut does go back to playing what the band knows best from time to time, revisiting tried and true subjects like weekends good, bad and lost, and nostalgia for long-ago crushes, but it often feels like they’re doing it for old times’ sake. A notable exception, however, is “Axl Rose,” which embodies teenage angst from its opening wail “This world is fucked and you’re an idiot” to its suitably busy guitar solo. Brilliant! Tragic! is a little uneven in its mix of new and familiar ideas, but for a band as clearly defined — and sometimes confined — by its approach as Art Brut is, to start changing the formula is a big step forward. – Heather Phares