The Day We Got What We Deserved could very well have been designed to mess with the listener’s head: as the listener goes “WTF?” the Trade Wind guys gently give the middle finger with a smirk on their faces.

...What We Deserved is an art-rock album that never happened. The songs are moody, musically complex, and rich with nuances. They all have a “slow burn” feel, appearing to be building up to something bigger and grander—except they ultimately do not. This is because ... What We Deserved is 28 minutes long, with most songs clocking under three minutes.

Until ...What We Deserved, Trade Wind (a band with members from other bands) has been making riffy hard rock music. And while they have been occasionally dipping their toes into making softer eccentric numbers, nothing from their past work compares with the full-blown, Buddhist monk-level restraint the band have shown on this record.

The restraint is in the album’s placid sound. It is in frontman Jesse Barnett’s measured vocals, singing as if he is performing at a coffee shop. And even though the song compositions are detailed and cerebral, the restraint is in economizing their duration without ruining them. This (rather quirky) aspect of ...What We Deserved is what defines it, what makes it strange, and what makes it wonderful.

Imagine the band having great ideas and imposing no limits on their creative imagination, like: adding a muted interlude by the saxophone, an instrument that is inherently meant to be played loudly (“Weather Eyes”); having a song in two parts even though the entire thing runs barely over three minutes (“Walk Me In // Plant Me In Your Garden”); and adding a snippet from an old media interview into the already limited real estate of a song that’s just above the three-minute mark (“Nine Tails”).

Now imagine this band trying to bring to life their ideas within the suffocating confines of their self-imposed restraints… it’s hard. It’s hard, because ...What We Deserved is so good.

...What We Deserved could have been a pretty awesome art rock record. Instead it ended up being something totally unimaginable, but damn satisfying. So, to the middle finger that the Trade Wind guys are giving us, we respond with a “thank you” and a smile!

Rating: B+

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