July 1st, 2013 
Brian Leak 
Artist: Beijing
Album: Night
Genre: Alt Rock, Emo, Rock
Beijing‘s music may not be as massive as their moniker might insinuate, but their new album, Night, is evidence that they’re heading in the right direction. With familiarly enjoyable structures in their sound and impressive textural elements littered throughout its entirety, Night is worth a listen but it’s up to you to decide if that listen was worth your time. For me, it was worth roughly three fifths of mine.
Matching the eerie beauty of the album’s cover art, Beijing’s debut full-length opens with “Acrobat,” a slow starter with fuzzy reverberating guitars and Eric Thornberg’s emotive vocals. At less than 3 minutes in length, it’s a rather brief introduction for a full track but a solid one that sets us up with a relatively clear view of what we’re to explore as we continue on through Night. “Acrobat” is immediately followed by “Into The Rain,” which to me is easily the album’s strongest track. It’s head and shoulders above the other 11 offerings on Night. With gorgeous instrumentation reminiscent of amazing bands such as Jeniferever and The Appleseed Cast, “Into The Rain” really hit the spot for me. It has moments of slow, elegant beauty and powerful segments of raw, gritty rock. Other notable tracks would be “Violence” and “Wax Wings” which are both much heavier than many moments on the album but also very catchy in terms of hooks and choruses. The album’s midpoint, “Silence,” is also a strong contender. While not necessarily as heavy, for me it was one of the catchiest and most memorable tracks on the effort with a really interesting bridge boasting an entirely different vocal approach and impressive instrumental section towards its finale.
Unfortunately, Night also has its afflictions with tracks such as “Broken Glass” which seems like a throwaway that feels extrinsic and ultimately interrupts a great start to the album by only the third track. Toward the album’s end, “Triggers” serves well as an instrumental contribution to Night but this was one in particular that I felt was rather damaged by its lyrical content. Parts of it are fine and excusable while others kind of cross that line of hokey, derivative pop that can sadly distract from an otherwise great track.
Beijing haven’t fully wowed me with Night as it certainly has its faults in being mildly generic at times and not feeling entirely cohesive as a whole but it also impresses me greatly in many moments. The parts I enjoy, I really enjoy. The parts I don’t care for really disappoint me. The power and emotion throughout is indicative of this band’s love for their creations, though, which is always inspiring. Apart from that, Night feels like it fits right into a Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, or Sunny Day Real Estate Pandora playlist in the early 2000s, had the service existed back then. While they (so far) certainly aren’t as iconic as those bands have become, this album feels like a stroll down memory lane in a sense but as for this day and age, it can easily feel out of place. For me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. To some, it may miss the mark entirely.
Regardless of where you stand in terms of what decade this album belongs, Night deserves an audience in 2013, if even a humble one for the time being. For a band that until very recently I didn’t know existed, they’ve certainly got my attention and I will be keeping a keen eye or two out for what they have in store for the future.
SCORE: 6.5/10
Review written by: Brian Lion – Follow him on Twitter
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