Office of Future Plans
(Dischord)
When Jawbox reunited on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in December of 2009 to commemorate Dischord's outstanding reissue of their seminal third album, 1994's For Your Own Special Sweetheart, fans rejoiced at the prospect of the DC post-hardcore giants perhaps making a return to active duty.
Over two years later and still no sign of anything more than that key moment on network television at press time. But frontman J. Robbins has unveiled a new band called Office of Future Plans whose eponymous debut was released in late 2011. Rhythmically he is backed by his old drummer in Channels, Darren Zenetek, while bassist Brooks Harlan hails from the underrated Baltimore indie rock outfit Avec. But the secret weapon of Office is cellist Gordon Withers, whose presence within the group dynamic is as essential as Robbins' guitar, as heard on songs like "Salamander" and "You're Not Alone."
On the overall, the sound of this new ensemble is definitely more accessible than anything Robbins has been involved in over twenty-some years, albeit more in a way that recalls Ted Leo and the Pharmacists or the Foo Fighters back when Dave Grohl had half of Sunny Day Real Estate in the band. Yet in spite of its commercial leanings on a sonic level, Office of Future Plans is rife with some of the most confrontational lyrics Robbins has penned in any of his groups, be it Jawbox, Burning Airlines or Channels. "Fuck the antiquated dream of a quiet mind/Let minutiae burn your eyes until you're blind," he spits on "Your Several Selves," while "FEMA Coffins" gives insight into where Robbins' vote will be going in 2012: "Hello cryptofascists/Hello wailing 1 percent/Yeah, I love more the crazier you get."
Office of Future Plans isn't as climactic as a Jawbox reunion album. But the combination of hardcore punk songwriting and a pop tunesmith's sense of melody and composition gives the latest venture for this DC scene giant an appeal entirely unique to its branch on the family tree.
DOWNLOAD: "Your Several Selves", "FEMA Coffins", "You're Not Alone" RON HART
