Swears
The Casual Lean

Reviewed by: John-Michael Bond [Thu, July 26, 2007 @ 10:54:04 PM]

One of the problems that face reviewers when it comes time to sit down and write about a record is the amount of time they have to listen to it. In this day and age of album leaks and straining promotional budgets albums are arriving later and later in your favorite websites mailboxes in hopes of staving off pirates as long as possible. I can totally understand where the labels are coming from as I would want to protect my investment too. But the less time we have with a record before we have to put our thoughts down on paper the less likely we are to fall head over heels for every possible detail of the record.

With Swears this isn't a problem. You see I've had this record for well over a year as the Casual Lean (friends of Mammothpress) have been looking for a label to release it. In the past year I have listened to Swears at a minimum of once a week but more often it was at least three or four times. As far as I'm concerned the Casual Lean sounds unlike anything else out there. They've got some pop punk in them, but its drawn from Sugar records not Fall Out Boy mp3s. You might hear some dance rock but you'd be hard pressed to relate it to anything other than maybe some of the weirder 80's material released by David Bowie. Swears is like an amazing fucked up conversation with a drunk poet in a bar backed by an amazing band who somehow rock your face off while stealing your girlfriend. And when you wake up you wonder where she is, and then you remember how bad ass the Casual Lean is and realize she's with a better man.

But no matter how I describe the kick ass tunes found on this record nothing should sell you more than the fact that I've listened to this record literally hundreds of times and never once has it been boring or not kept my full attention. So thank god Swears is finally seeing the light of day, whether you've heard it yet or not. Either way this might be your new favorite band, even if you don't know it yet.

9 out of 10
RIYL: David Bowie, Minus the Bear or Sugar