speed of dark

Division Day's self-released version of Beartrap Island appeared on several Best of 2006 lists, and I was kicking myself for not having picked up on it until early this year. Lucky for me--and you too if you made the same mistake--I'm getting a second chance now that it will be officially released by Eenie Meenie Records on October 2 and is available on iTunes as of today.

Although the band name seems inspired from an Elliott Smith song, Division Day's cover of Sunny Day Real Estate's "Every Shining Time You Arrive" points instead to a more likely source. Those long, rambling lyric lines and melodies that travel to their destinations on loosely-linked movements instead of traditional verse-verse-chorus-verse restrictions are clues. The overall tone of the songs, however, is much less somber than Sunny Day ever was, and while Rohner Segnitz's lyrics are sometimes unclear, he does pronounce them in a normal way (unlike Jeremy Enigk on Diary).

Beartrap Island takes excursions into the underworld, exploring the journey of life and death. Death is often by watery means--"Ricky knew the river was a dangerous place" and background vocals in "Hurricane" keep repeating "drown, drown." Yet this is not a "downer" album. The message is managed without yeilding to depression or revulsion.

The opener, the title song, makes that clear with a pronouncement of strength:
I can't leave
I won't go I'm not yours to move around
Or spin around the room....
After 13 months on Beartrap Island
I have learned the words to bring you down
...And then the album proceeds to tell those words.

Each song has a different way of approaching the theme: some tumble breathlessly over themselves ("Ricky", "To the Woods", "Tigers") as if the words can't come out fast enough, and others linger sweetly ("Hand To the Sound", "Dayenu", "Colorguard"). Several end with grating, overdriven rants or squealing feedback--OK with me because I love every sound a guitar can make.

Take "Dayenu," a retrospective from beyond the grave, stating finally what we most fear--that our lives did not, after all, have a point. Even knowing ahead that you're going to die--and we all do--doesn't help.
I got a fever in that last good year
I knew the reckoning had come
I gathered all those round I held dear
I gathered all those round I loved
I said No, nothing
I said I learned nothing

The beautiful "Hand To the Sound" describes how the seasons continue to roll on regardless of our temporary presences, reminding us that in a way we are still in the cycle:
Adders crawl around her, slithering through the windows
Singing, Serpentina, we are your only cover now
Surrender the sound
These are the scales you call your own
We'll come back in August after the fall that turns us all red

Wow.

Is this my favorite on the CD? Or is it Ryan Wilson's shimmery guitar on "Colorguard," or the downhill careen of "To the Woods," or the infectious, loping "Tap-Tap, Click-Click"? I can't decide; all I know is I don't want to stop listening. Look for this one on my Favorites of 2007.

The closing song, "Is It True What They Say" questions what happens after this life ends, descends into crackly static like when the TV cable goes out, then suddenly blinks out, leaving us still with that question unanswered. Some things we are not meant to know.

Division Day are also releasing a cover song each Tuesday. Yesterday's offering was Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence", which is given a burbly, murky effect which builds to a thorough lashing by Kevin Lenhart on drums, and a sound something like groans.

Division Day: Tap-Tap, Click-Click from Beatrap Island (2007)
Division Day: Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode cover)

MySpace | Website | Label: Eenie Meenie Records
Buy at Eenie Meenie Store, Amazon, and iTunes

CD Release Parties:
10/02/07 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
10/04/07 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
More tour dates on their websites