Music Review // Killed by The Architects "Tabula Rasa"

https://jamieberkes.bandcamp.com/album/tabula-rasa

There are a few ideas out there which feel like they have come into my life in various forms and have stuck with my since my teenage years and one of them is Tabula Rasa.   The concept of Tabula Rasa is that no one is born with any certain set of knowledge and all that we know comes from experience.   This is a nice title for an album (I do believe at one point there was at least one band named Tabula Rasa as well, the Pittsburgh one) as I feel like a lot of what comes out in these songs isn't direct but rather based on what we know from our past.

Killed by The Architects begins "Tabula Rasa" with a dark and driving sound.  As this begins to feel like it is classic rock, it also pushes those boundaries into the MPLS scene as "I'm in Love" can have a certain Soul Asylum feel.   As the album goes on, the mood seems to change.  Some of that trippy-ness from The Flaming Lips can be heard and as we get into "If I Don't Know What You Want" it can even begin to sound like a bit of shoegaze.

With lines like: "Now there's just one thing I can't explain: why I'm in love" and "Because I don't fit in / No matter what I do" this album definitely feels like it's about finding oneself.  Even the song "Lost at Sea" can feel like a more direct representation of this, with the line "I have no one else but me".  The lyrics can be relatable if you're struggling with your place on this blue and green marble and lines can be pulled out and quoted in many different ways.

Windy distortion clouds fill "Move Mountains" and by the end I'm left thinking about the Pixies as well.  There exists a genre of music which doesn't really get enough credit and doesn't really have a name but it came after grunge was kind of fading out but also during the time of grunge and just featured rock bands who were making a distinct sound but weren't grunge.  This is how I feel about Killed by The Architects and if you're a fan of special rock music then this will be perfect for you.