A View Beyond the Cave
Track Listing
- A View Beyond the Cave
- Reconcile Our Lives
- To Those of This World
- Too Far
- Floating, We Find Love
- Blind
- Some Dream of Happiness
- Bus Mute
Album Review
I don't even know where to start. This is one of those CDs you just can't get enough of. Bernard has a great emo sound, but they seem to pick up where most emo bands leave off. Their piano-heavy guitar rock hits a nerve. With a sound this deep, it's hard to believe they are a three-piece. Some listeners might only be able to handle the band in small doses, but it's hard to deny the flashes of dynamic genius they display.
"Bus Mute" follows the pattern of many of the songs. It starts with a subtle, barely moving heartbeat, then erupts into a rush of guitar and vocals. "Reconcile Our Lives" succeeds because of its concise, deliberate piano-and-vocal introduction. Like many of the other songs, it builds toward an almost overwhelming emotional peak. These guys are a breath of fresh air.
There is little point in selecting highlights: practically every song here is gold. The disc's main weakness is the repetition in some of the guitar work, which can make a few songs hard to distinguish from one another. Despite so many inspired moments, I still feel as though something is missing, even if I can't pinpoint what it is.
Still, this is one of the year's few must-have discs. I highly recommend it. If only every band could play with this much emotion and heart. This album truly deserves to be heard.
For Fans Of: Keane, Lovedrug, Jimmy Eat World, Copeland, Muse and Brandtson.
- Anthony P. Hanna
Another View
Bernard makes a small lineup sound surprisingly expansive. Piano gives these songs their shape, while the guitars gather around it, sometimes adding a faint glow and sometimes pushing the whole arrangement toward a noisy release. The appeal of A View Beyond the Cave lies in that gradual change in scale: a melody that seems almost private at first can become something much bigger by the time the band reaches its final chorus.
"Reconcile Our Lives" makes particularly good use of that patience. Its spare piano-and-vocal opening gives the song room to grow, and the fuller arrangement carries more weight because the band doesn't give everything away immediately. "Too Far" offers a more direct point of entry, with a melody that holds its own amid the atmosphere. On "Bus Mute," the movement from a quiet pulse into louder guitars brings the record's ambitions into focus.
The difficulty is that Bernard returns to this approach often enough for the surprises to become familiar. When several songs follow a similar path from restraint to release, the distinctions between them can blur. A little more variety in the guitar parts, or a song willing to stay quiet, might have made the bigger moments feel even more powerful.
Even so, the trio's conviction carries the record through its less distinctive passages. There is a strong melodic instinct beneath the swelling arrangements, and the piano gives the music a tenderness that survives the louder sections. For listeners drawn to the space between Copeland's warmth and Lovedrug's dramatic guitar rock, this is an overlooked release worth spending time with.
Bernard •
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