[review 2006: the disappointments]

It’s been seven years since my first Rainer Maria album, Look Now Look Again; since then I’ve done a lot of growing up, and so has Rainer Maria. Back then they were tossing off their emo leanings at a time when the definition of emo was shifting from Braid to Dashboard Confessional, years before emo shifted from Dashboard Confessional to My Chemical Romance. Back then I was still in high school, and so particularly vulnerable to lines like “And I’m certain if you drive into those trees / it would make less of a mess than you’ve made of me.” We were a great fit; there was just enough pop to make songs like “Lost, Dropped and Cancelled” sound pretty and just enough raw grit for the air guitar moments like “Breakfast of Champions.” I was a sucker for Caithlin de Marrais, especially on “I’m Melting,” one of the few songs I used to be able to sing from beginning to end. My ex-girlfriend couldn’t stand her voice; de Marrais was off-key, you see, and my ex had perfect pitch.

Since then, Rainer Maria have all but cut their connections both to emo and to the Midwest. de Marrais has slowly taken over the vocal duties for the band, and has learned how to sing on key in the process. Long Knives Drawn was arguably the band’s finest effort to date; hearing “Ears Ring” for the first time was like hearing an entirely different band, one whose resemblance to the Rainer Maria of old only became apparent with repeated listens. More muscular and aggressive than before, the first half of Long Knives Drawn was razor sharp, even if the second half faltered a bit. But there was a problem; though Rainer Maria have evolved far more than most bands in their six years up to 2003, the major emotional thrust of the band—the relationship between band principals Kyle Fischer and de Marrais—was gone. Long Knives Drawn was the breakup album, but what do you do for an encore?

Catastrophe Brings Us Together is the sound of Rainer Maria trying to figure out the answer. Unfortunately, Catastrophe isn’t the answer itself, as it is most definitely a transition album. The extent to which the band is still figuring out its new direction is evident as soon as you see the album’s packaging; the cover and back is lettered in a thin gothic typeface and covered in worn photocopied posters, but the liner note booklet is a lush, glossy affair with sleek Helvetica lettering and the usual band glamour shot. The dissonance continues on the album proper; the sequencing works against the album’s momentum and the songs are a mixed bag of jangly indie rock (”Clear and True” and “Terrified”), mid-tempo alt-rock (”Catastrophe” and “Already Lost”), pseudo-artsy instrumentals (”Cities Above”, the worst track on the album), a couple of fiery blowouts (”Bottle” and “I’ll Make You Mine”) and quiet, introspective numbers (”Burn” and “I’ll Keep It With Mine”). Some of it works, but much of it doesn’t. Had Rainer Maria picked an approach or two and stuck with it, the album would perhaps still be just as spotty but at least more coherent. As it stands, it’s easy to pick out a couple of enjoyable songs and jettison the rest as forgettable or failed experiments.

Something else: Rainer Maria needs to drop some of the distortion and vocal effects. “Bottle” could’ve been a great song, but it seems to float just underneath a layer of haze. We’ve heard this sort of production before, on Long Knives Drawn’s “The Double Life,” but Catastrophe Keeps Us Together is more severely afflicted; “Burn” and “I’ll Make You Mine” suffer from the same lack of immediacy thanks to the haze. Even “Clear and True’s” sonics aren’t quite clear or true, though it is the best song on the album. A notable exception is the final track, “I’ll Keep It With Mine.” Even though it’s a cover, the low-key, almost narcotic sound is a direction that could bear fruit if the band decides to pursue it.

The next step for Rainer Maria is to trim down and try to do one or two things really well; Catastrophe Keeps Us Together is too scattershot to feel like an album, let alone a good one. If you compile “Life of Leisure,” “Bottle,” “Terrified” and “Clear and True” into an EP, clean up the sound and get rid of the other songs, you’d have a fairly decent release. Rainer Maria are still capable of writing a good song, and if they could string a couple more together their next album will be worth lining up for.