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The beauty of art is that it is in the eye of the beholder—what one person sees as garbage, another can see as greatness. Over the years, various forms of art have garnered large followings, such as the paintings of Pablo Picasso, although crowds
just as large—if not larger—have decried the deconstructive and disorganized nature of many of his works.
In a musical sense, that’s exactly what New York noise rock musicians Sightings have been doing for almost twenty years
now—and, in doing so, they’ve helped to create a musical style that’s all its own and open to interpretation. Unfortunately, I’ve arrived at this party a little too late, since my first experience with them, Amusers and Puzzlers, is their
last—serving as a fond (albeit unintended) farewell to their loyal fanbase after quietly disbanding in 2013.
After listening to this, I realize that I have been very closed-minded to noise rock—disregarding it as the product of
talentless middle school garage band rejects who clashed and banged their way into inspiring a generation of other
talentless middle school garage band rejects—but this realization took more than one listen. Most of my first was spent
trying to find some sort of rhythm or melody in the midst of screechy guitar effects and bass and drum lines that seemed
to be concocted for completely different songs.
That is until “Syllabus of Errors,” whose simple yet haunting bass line, along with dynamically shifting pops and
statics—like a radio or television with bad reception—create a kind of surrealness that takes your mind into a deeper,
more primal (if not a little angry) place, enabling you to wander effortlessly through thought processes and aspects you
may not have known before. Its initially preposterous sixteen-minute runtime only works to its advantage, giving you the
time and space to process what you’re thinking and feeling—enough that it made me want to give the whole album a second
try.
So, after a difficult adjustment into “I Steal from My House,” the much more aggressive finale that is sure to please
longtime fans—and which I enjoyed as well for its more mainstream sounding guitar solos—that’s exactly what I did. Only, this
time, I took more notice of the interplay between the bass and drums, which reveals itself to be a more than adequate
substitute for trying to find any sense of rhythm or melody—each one playing separately yet together, frequently shifting
in and out of their own rhythms and tones while combining seamlessly for brief moments, making for a much more pleasurable
experience.
An overall aggressive tone proves to be more of a hit-and-miss affair, marked by quick, dynamic bass and drums (some
resembling jack-hammering, making songs like “Thirteen” and “Trials of Peter” more annoying than anything), clashing
guitar effects (which overpower long stretches of the first four songs), and assertive (albeit mostly incomprehensible)
vocals. While that may not turn me into a diehard noise rock fanatic, it will put me on the edges of a fan base that
should be more than satisfied with this one last Sighting.
