For me, Crocodiles represent everything I love about life-affirming Rock’n'Roll: they bring light out of darkness; they match reckless noise with the most beautiful melodies; they catch you off guard whilst sounding like the most perfect kind of right for the right here, right now.
They remind me of all the things I’ve loved but they also make me hungry for what I’ve not yet tasted. The claustrophobia and pain of the recent past is dealt with bravely and the road ahead is wide and open. It is all my favorite records playing at once; the trick to it being the truth; the truth being that great, life-affirming music must be bittersweet; anger is an energy that can be churned to positive.
We who face the demons of derailment out to destroy dreams must harness the hate and turn it back on itself — it is from this that great art is begat. And so these songs rage and chime at once, in organized chaos, like life.
Charles and Brandon have been making music together since they were 18. They met in the dirty glow of San Diego sun and now split their lives between New York City and London. Their music has grown up over the last decade just as they have. New blood in the form of producer Sune Rose Wagner of Raveonettes fame oversaw this recent endeavor and it was a quick, natural Los Angeles creation. Duncan Mills mixed for the third time, to maintain their catalogue lifeline.
Crimes Of Passion kicks off with “I Like It In The Dark,” which could be their best to date; a joyous hymn to atheism and closes with the aching beauty of “Un Chant D’Amour,” a simple and direct ode to heartbreak. These songs bookmark an album bursting with sounds inspired by the likes of the Soft Boys, Street Hassle era Lou Reed, the Notorious Byrd Brothers, the Jackson 5 and even Glenn Branca. This is certainly the most fully realised Crocodiles album to date.
It is a sadly accepted impression that life is cooler in song, on screen, in art, or in poetry, but it is far superior when the creative process is fed back into real life and an album like Crimes Of Passion is borne.
– Kristian Atkinson, Sonic Adventurer, United Kingdom
