photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

Album Review of The Sweetest Condition: We Defy Oblivion

I don’t have a lot of industrial synth-pop in my collection, but I’m not oblivious to originality and talent. Last spring, I reviewed The Sweetest Condition’s Edge of the World, gushing over its tight songwriting, tunefulness, power, and crossover appeal. Well, with We Defy Oblivion, Leslie Irene Benson and Jason Reed Milner have done it again.

image courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

There’s an interesting progression between albums. We Defy Oblivion, definitely dwells in a heavier neighborhood, with fewer forays toward the pop edge of The Sweetest Condition’s range. Again, though, the duo finds the monster hook in otherwise industrial pop. Leslie’s voice remains expressive and booming, when necessary, while tightly adhering to the songs’ requirements, resulting in genre-adhering music that can easily reach ears beyond its usual core audience.

Jason Reed Milner; photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

In “Knock Us Down,” for example, the vocals are exceptionally staccato but their warmth keeps them from sounding inhuman, as can be the risk in this sort of musical cocktail. That particular song also sports a hypnotic synth rhythm and well-placed, not-too-simple drumbeat. The attention to detail includes thicker-and-thinner variations to the wall-of-synth theme buoyed by well-patterned song progressions. “Knock Us Down” is a microcosm of what The Sweetest Condition does best, which is why I mention it first, and it’s a catchy track, but it’s not necessarily even one of my favorites.

Leslie Irene Benson; photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

For pure industrial synth, the album opens strong with “Deconstructing,” with a recurring pop rhythm (which usefully moves between different positions on the keys) before the song bursts forth into its chorus. This song, in its chorus, is one of the few locations on We Defy Oblivion in which I can draw the Madonna comparison to Leslie’s vocals; it was more common on the previous album. Again, not necessarily a typical vocal capability among industrial synth-pop singers, but it speaks to the breadth of The Sweetest Condition’s musical toolbox.

photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

Ah, but I promised you favorites. And the two cuts that reach farthest into my crossover-enjoying brain are “Faithless” and “Vices.” “Faithless” supports a hypnotically straightforward yet occasionally emotional vocal – and it’s the emotional infrequency that allows it to stand out so much – with a steady, catchy synth sequence.

“Vices,” meanwhile, utilizes another ear-catching, yet different, primary key sequence during the verses that explodes into the chorus. The music seems a bit edgy at times, building tension in the verses that releases powerfully during the chorus. It’s tied together with more emotional vocals, following the same pattern of tension and release. In this well-written, hooky song, the music itself is more suggestive than the lyrics.

photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

The most all-out energy on this album likely comes in “Keep Turning Me On,” a full-on, fast-tempo, potential dance club-pleaser that will leave the listener breathless after a single listen. I can only imagine the dance-floor carnage. The song before it, “Knock Us Down,” for which TSC has a video, is just as relentless, but insists at a more manageable medium-fast tempo.

Perhaps the poppiest, most mainstream track on We Defy Oblivion is “Depths Of Hell,” not that the lyrics would suggest a softening.

photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

A bit rougher but also memorable is the song “Nein Nein Nein.” The English-language verses suggest a rather rough evening to begin with, while the chorus implores “Ich will mehr, aber du sagst nein.” It’s supported by a stripped-down, rough-edged music bed befitting the lyrics.

Disc-ender “Unforgiven,” meanwhile, attempts to return the listener to a stable state. It’s a solid number, steadier than its immediate predecessor, and more traditionally, purely emotionally dark.

Once again, The Sweetest Condition delivers a solid collection of songs, a disc that will undoubtedly contain a few new favorites, if this is your genre. And an album that might surprise you if this isn’t. Personally, after how impressed I had been by Edge of the World, the bar for its follow-up was set exceptionally high, but with We Defy Oblivion Jason and Leslie have delivered an album that meets my unreasonably high expectations. It’s a helluva disc. I feel almost greedy for wondering what comes next.

The Sweetest Condition – Edge of the World

photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

The Backstory

Nashville-based The Sweetest Condition is a two-person outfit, Jason Reed Milner (music and synths) and Leslie Irene Benson (lyrics and vocals). Edge of the World is the band’s first full-length album, a follow-up to 2013’s Truth & Light EP.

Album Review of The Sweetest Condition: Edge of the World

image courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

My introduction to The Sweetest Condition was through the loudest, most aggressive track on this album, “Now.” It’s a song you might expect from a collaboration between Trent Reznor and Madonna. The edgy, industrial fabric – brilliant synth and background vocal distortion – combines with Benson’s voice, which sounds uncannily like Madonna’s. But that’s not the only reason. There’s a clear pop sensibility to the songwriting that recalls not just the Material Girl herself but also old-school pop music with a hint of ’80s new wave.

The key to the broad appeal of The Sweetest Condition’s songs is that they are exceptionally well-written and tightly performed. The changes in tempo and vocal phrasing are carefully planned and meticulously executed to capture the a pop music charm while remaining true to the music’s industrial core. In other words, if this is your style of music, you’ll like The Sweetest Condition because they perform it well; if this is not your style of music, you may still like this band. And, depending on the song, The Sweetest Condition’s music could find a home anywhere from a dance club to mainstream pop radio.

Structurally, Edge of the World is a complete package, with its song order constructed to ebb and flow, most satisfying to listen to in order, from beginning to end.

photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

Aside from “Now,” most of the rest of the disc trends more synth-pop, with the NIN-esque harsh edge called upon less frequently but judiciously. Throughout the disc there’s perhaps as much Thompson Twins, Human League, and Eurythmics in the mix, stylistically.

Album-opener “Beyond the Blue” merges a catchy, energetic enthusiasm with a dominant pop-synth sound. Next, some of the bridges in “Control” are very ’80s pop.

A couple of the catchier pop-leaning numbers are “Fall in Line,” an energetically moderately dark song that builds in power and energy throughout and “Secret,” a catchy, rhtyhm-driven synth-pop tune that seamlessly blends seemingly-angry verses and sing-along choruses with its sultry bridge.

“The War is Over” is a powerful, slowly-building song that relies heavily on Benson’s vocal tone to maintain its edginess, with the support of Milner’s music lying subtly beneath it until bursting forth midway through; excellent song-construction and delivery are equally responsible for this engaging hurt-and-anger ballad. The mood is carried into “This Poison,” which just builds upon its predecessor’s power before relaxing a bit toward the end.

photo courtesy of The Sweetest Condition

“Try” is another of the poppier songs, with its rhythm befitting a pop-dance number, with its rather Madonna-esque dramatic rhythmic pauses punctuating the otherwise driving beat.

But “Watch You Fall” may be my current favorite on the disc. The movement of the vocals around the melody, ebbing and flowing, dance in and around the song’s steady rhythm to give it a catchy off-center, slightly-off-balance, memorable flow.

Fittingly, from a musical and mood standpoint, the album bids farewell with “Without You.” Milner’s sometimes-busy, other-times-soft musical bed and heavy rhythms complement Benson’s rawly emotional vocals and troubled lyrics (“I can’t live without you/I’m nothing without you…”), maintaining the album’s painful, emotional theme to the bitter end.

Overall, Edge of the World is a well-written, lyrically and musically interesting disc that relies on a solid balance of rhythm, vocals, and controlled power to bridge the gap between its obvious genre (industrial synth-pop) and a broader listening audience.

Looking Ahead

The Sweetest Condition has no upcoming shows listed on its website, but that’s where you’d go to find out.