Technically, It’s a Beautiful Place is already the duo’s seventh record. Yet it was their sixth, Everyone’s Crushed, their Matador debut, that brought the Brooklyn pair to wider attention. In that sense, It’s a Beautiful Place feels like a tricky second album – though it quickly makes clear that Water From Your Eyes are here to stay. Across a brisk 29 minutes, this slightly broken album offers an ultra-playful journey that many records fail to achieve even at twice the length.
Together, Brown (vocals) and Amos (guitar/production) craft adventurous art-pop full of glitches and ear-candy moments: every extreme distortion tingles, every drumbeat booms, and no song ends without surprise. Their music is postmodern in the best sense, drawing from the strange and varied sounds found online – yet resisting classification. »Every song is a remix of a song that doesn’t exist«, Nate Amos once told Stereogum.
Using digital tools, Water From Your Eyes assemble the oddest noises, and still It’s a Beautiful Place feels organic and handmade. They’re not really a rock band, nor an electronic duo — and somehow both at once. Rarely does art sound so vibrantly ambitious while retaining its DIY, bedroom charm.
…that’s how the light gets in
And – more importantly – rarely does one hear such an undeniable banger as »Nights in Armor«. The track is hard and aggressive, while Brown’s vocals sound detached, almost bored. At its core, »Nights in Armor« is a stunning pop song, something easily forgotten amid its explosive sonics. »Fight me, I burn brighter«, Brown sings – set to a simple, irresistibly catchy six-note melody.
The duo’s risk-taking pop songs are deliberately fragmented: constantly changing shape, jumping around, refusing to stay still. Their influences are equally disjointed. »Life Signs« hints at progressive metal — complete with complex time signatures and seething guitar riffs — while the band also professes a love of Red Hot Chili Peppers. »Playing Classics«, by contrast, draws from Charli XCX and could easily slide into a BRAT-era DJ set.
With wide eyes, Water From Your Eyes look at the world — and this time, it’s less cynical than the biting tone of Everyone’s Crushed.
Their music remains manic and funny, yet also carries a newfound sincerity. The Dadaist stoner humour of the last album recedes; in fact, Nate Amos has since left that lifestyle behind, exploring it instead on his excellent solo album Box for Buddy, Box for Stars as This Is Lorelei. The band might hate to hear it, but It’s a Beautiful Place carries a deep melancholy, especially in instrumental interludes like »You Don’t Believe in God?«.
Not believing in God, for Amos and Brown, has less to do with religion than with denying the beauty of the world. To overlook its incredible variety feels, to them, like a true sin. That sentiment runs through every note of this wondrous album. With wide eyes, Water From Your Eyes look at the world — and in doing so, their music feels less like negation and more like joy. There’s a clear connection between the album’s title and its sound: beautiful things are fragile — and fragile things bring joy.
