Irving - Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers

Irving
Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers
Eenie Meenie Records
Grade: A-

How has the post-modern rock of Irving been able to lurk in the background for the past few years when they can offer up such incredible numbers like the opener “The Gentle Preservation of Children’s Minds” on their second full-length, and third release overall, Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers? Formed in 2003 simply to help a friend out, Irving is now comprised of Alex Church (bass), Steven Scott (guitar), Brian Canning (guitar), Brent Turner, and Aaron Burrows (keyboards), and they combine to play haunting and dark poppy new wave. At times, Irving pushes more to the 80s theme on songs like “Jen, Nothing Matters to Me” and “I’ll Write the Song, You Sing For Me,” but otherwise they are more contemporary as on the Dandies-like “The Longest Day in the Afternoon” and “I Want to Love You in My Room.” You also get purer 60s psychedelic pop on songs like “Situation” and “Care, I Don’t Care.” But if Irving is looking for any direction in how to move their sound all they have to do is replicate the magic on the aforementioned “The Gentle Preservation of Children’s Minds.” The song begins slightly with either light bells or playing the backbridge, soon joined by a single guitar and glorious, deep vocals uttering these lines: “Remember when they used to make us/wake up and spray all the blood from the flowers/it was so hot, in the afternoon/they told us that we couldn’t stop until the garden bloomed.” After this first refrain, the rest of the band joins in and punctuates the sound on the group sung chorus. Why Irving moves away from this motif on much of the rest of the record is bothersome. Anyway, Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers is a record that you need on your shelf now.