When I mention Hot Cross a lot of time I'll hear some clever person sing the Hot Cross Buns jingle. I'm sure for each time I've heard this the band members have heard it a thousand times. Kinda like how when I tell people my name is Zed they do that line from Pulp Fiction. But anyways, one thing I'm sure people expected from this album was a further step in the direction of Cryonics, the album prior to this. Unsurprisingly, this is the case with Fair Trades And Farewells, but in a way that I wasn't suspecting. From their first album, A New Set Of Lungs, to Cryonics they definitely became more radio friendly and moved to the suckier side of things. But with Fair Trades And Farewells they took the raw feeling of the first album and took the technical playing of the second and infused them together. What this creates is an accessible album that new fans will like but also something for the older fans that were disappointed by Cryonics.
For those who aren't familiar with Hot Cross, an apology is forwarded in your direction for that first paragraph as I'm sure you were very confused. Hot Cross is a band from the East Coast that initially rode on the steam of the band member's previous bands, but now is good enough where the ex-band mention doesn't really matter. This is especially true because at this point Hot Cross has gotten bigger than all the previous bands combined. Hot Cross has a screamo vibe, but definitely doesn't fit easily into that genre. The vocals are talk/sung instead of doing high shrieks and the melodies are quick and technical, sounding metal-like without the heaviness of metal. The opening riff to "Better A Corpse Than A Nun" rolls out like a carpet and puss in boots dances across it, when suddenly the other guitar harmonizes with the riff creating a joust. It barely reminds me of You And I if they were a LOT more listenable and didn't have the hard parts. The experimentation is appreciated, such as their instrumental track, "Two Cripples Dancing." That song gives off a Cave In sound, with the delay pedal effect sounding guitars that leave a haze of smoke around one's room.
Billy, the vocalist, has a lot more control over his voice than previously. His initial crossover to not as forceful screaming from full-balls-out shrieking was shaky at first, but now he's definitely found his sound. Something else I noticed that he does well is repeat lines, instead of a new line each measure, without sounding redundant. There is also maturation in the lyrical department, but I'm not sure if Billy is to credit with this, as the liner notes don't mention him as the writer. With lines like, "I say that once the letter is written it's not so easily sent. Like trying to find two of three but settling with one of me instead," there is both a feeling of vagueness and interpretation set up for the reader. I guess this could be a personal gripe, but the backup vocals need to go. The times when Billy's voice is layered over itself works, creating an almost Bright Calm Blue vocal attack. The time when singing is placed about midpoint in "Prepare/Repair" works, it's a nice harmony. Otherwise, no. In "Better Than A Corpse" you can hear how it doesn't work. The words are shot out like poisonous darts from nasal tubes straight at the heart drawn by Taking Back Sunday. It wouldn't sound so horrid if the guy who does it could actually sing, but because he can't, it doesn't add any nice harmonies but instead just distracts. These parts could be easily ignored, but because they're in every song (except for the instrumental song) you can't get past them.
If you've heard Hot Cross before, or you haven't, this is an album worth checking out. If they continue moving in this direction, their next LP will be awesome. Whereas with Cryonics they began planting their feet into the ground, with Fair Trades And Farewells they have firmly planted themselves. I expect the new album to be the time when their branches outwards... but enough with the metaphor. They just need to get rid of those out of place backup vocals and all will be good.
