Like an antenna that captures every fleeting thought, distraction, or incoming alert, Media Jeweler is a musical representation of the overstimulated 21st century mind. Their very name invokes the obsessive curation of information, which is sold back to the listener in anxious squalls, springy riffs, and furnace blasts of knotty post-punk. The California band's first two records were brief and largely instrumental affairs of angular art rock bearing titles nicked from billboards ($99 R/T Hawaii) and advertisements (1-800-SUCCEED). On their comparatively sprawling third LP, The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive, Media Jeweler takes this approach to the extreme, layering their compositions with cinematic timbres and, most striking of all, lyrics. Their first record to heavily feature vocals, Sculpture expounds on a philosophical concept put forth by 20th century German critic Walter Benjamin that our view of our own lives and reality is more or less "moderated by the dominant technologies, politics, events, and advertising messages of our day."
As brainy a platform as this is to build from, Media Jeweler's sense of mischief remains and de facto frontman Sam Farzin wields his surprisingly charismatic voice as deftly as he does his guitar. Musing on existential dread, he deadpans John Mellencamp's 1982 chestnut "life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone" against a cataclysmic riff topped by skronking saxophones. In another bit of crafty media mining, he later reframes Paul Simon's winsome 1986 line "the way the camera follows us in slo-mo" as a warning in the relentlessly nervy "Stuck." There are chaotic allusions to societal collapse ("Middle Ages") and dour chants of "living is like a pyramid scheme, living feels like telemarketing" ("3D Printer"), though there is unexpected beauty as well, especially on the celestial closer "Smile." With his rich baritone that resembles a hybrid of Scott Walker and Chris Connelly, Farzin bellows over a lush crescendo of synths and reeds, closing out the LP with a bittersweet repetition of "smile, you're on camera." While it all somehow sounds like Media Jeweler, Media Jeweler has never sounded quite like this before; it's a significant evolution from this endlessly fascinating and culturally relevant band.