Album Review: Build Us Airplanes – “At The End Of The Day”

Based in Vacaville, California, (which is somewhere north of San Francisco, and from what I gather is like being from somewhere west of Worcester for all of you New Englanders) Build Us Airplanes have been fine-tuning their craft for the last four years or so. The quartet play a raw sort of post-hardcore-infused garage rock that sounds like the love child of Jawbreaker and any of Lou Barlow’s projects, particularly Dinosaur Jr.

At its best, “At The End Of The Day” features a dozen tracks that evoke fond memories of Fugazi in the 1990s crossed with the fuzz and rawness (and occasional unfocused meandering) of a lot of the tracks (album opener “The Running Song” for example) of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse if Crazy Horse were about forty years younger. Build Us Airplanes come across as though they’d be just as comfortable playing thirty-minute improvisational jam sessions as they do playing two-and-a-half minute rock songs.

While the meandering may seem unfocused at times, it doesn’t sound sloppy. A lot of bands that try for the same feel end up coming off like the five members are playing five different songs at the same time. BUA all seem like they are on the same page, they just don’t always seem convinced that they know what’s on the next page until they get there. That’s not a bad thing; again, Crazy Horse (and to a lesser degree a lot of the early post-hardcore movement) have made a living at that sort of “let’s see what happens next” style.

In addition to “The Running Song,” “Lost Son” and “Greener Pastures” are particularly strong tracks, standouts among the album’s twelve songs. The former probably best exemplifies all that is right with Build Us Airplanes’ sound; fuzzed out rock guitar, catchy, tag-team vocals, lyrics that seem both vague and intensely personal (“we won’t speak of our sins…”). “Greener Pastures” would seem right at home on any of a number of post-grunge projects from a decade ago (and its intro is reminiscent of a track from Pearl Jam riffmaster Stone Gossard’s solo release “Bayleaf”). It’s nothing that reinvents the wheel, but it’s a solid, guitar-driven track.

“On And On” is the album’s only real misstep. The sort of psychedelic jam-band riff never really gets off the ground. “The Road Home” has some weak parts, particularly the over-reliance on the guitar-lead-matching-the-vocals piece. The vocals, particularly the backing vocals, are a little thin in some areas on this and other songs, though not enough to kill the overall momentum. Speaking of momentum, “At The End Of The Day” is the kind of album that grows on you with each listen. The flow between songs is perfect, and the album sounds great when left on REPEAT, continuing to build as it plays.

Build Us Airplanes facebook page boasts that the band play “catchy indie rock with punk rock accessibility,” and based on a number of listens to “At The End Of The Day,” I’d say they hit that nail right on the head.