by Brittany Lange

photo by Tear-n Tan

In 2005, I might have fancied The Bravery’s frontman, Sam Endicott, as your average eyeliner-using, faux-hawked, guitar-slinging New York City hipster. I’ve come to the conclusion, though, that Mr. Endicott is leading a secret life. After all, I pursued a lengthy and hectic mission to try to gain a few words from the elusive singer. I suspect it’d be easier to score an interview with the President. It injected a little mystery into this seemingly high-speed chase. Added intrigue to a band that baffled me even initially.

Sometimes, I couldn’t figure out if the Bravery had turned more heads for their 80s-nostalgic hit “An Honest Mistake” or if Endicott brought his band to the forefront by clashing with the Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers. Either way, the Bravery’s bid for fame often morphed into unadulterated notoriety. Their ascension onto the music scene was often written off as, well, a little too timely, a little too calculated. Were they contrived puppets of the record industry? Or did they really mean it?

Luckily, the Bravery’s new release The Sun and the Moon proves that the band is not content to settle just for a NME-endorsed rivalry. It’s a testament to the group’s new level of maturity, willingness to experiment, and departure from the synthetic indulgences that so markedly defined their debut. Endicott explains, “With the last album, we intentionally made it a dance party all the way through. Every song was a disco party. And this one, was more about anything goes. No holds barred. So, anything that came out, a slow song, a fast song, an acoustic song. It’s a lot more eclectic.”

While Endicott’s vocals still echo Robert Smith, the songs make a bolder, more serious statement. Specifically, many of the songs lament a former flame or, in Endicott’s own words, “question a greater meaning.” In the track “This is Not the End,” for example, he says, “I wrote that for a friend of mine who got really sick and thought she was going to die. She didn’t really believe in anything beyond this life. So I wrote that as a song make her feel better to tell that there is more than this life.”

The Bravery’s new direction breathes vitality into a band that was always accused of riding on the back of the latest trends. Perhaps, the group will find their strongest sense of identity in the years to come. Endicott muses, “The best and hardest thing to do as a songwriter is just to be really honest and simple, and from the heart. So I tried to be more forthright. It’s more personal.”