One goes through a thoroughly depressing pile of 46 CDs by unknown artists utterly bereft of advanced talent and imagination, calling "Next!," hoping against hope there might be one like this hidden there. Wherefore art though, Cinderella trying to get noticed behind her wretched stepmom/sisters? But at last, here she is, not too late for the ball!
What they remind of is early 1990s (i.e. comeback) Comsat Angels, with some Adam and Eve Catherine Wheel too. It's that marvelous swirling guitar edge, bonded to hard pop tunes that slowly but forcefully unfold and then implode, the pensive touches (love the trumpets and bits of piano, like on "Drinking With Baron," and the feeding back cello on "Awake"), the clear and clear-eyed singing, the long languid passages that give way to building storms, and riffs that catch you from first play. Excellent!
This Chicago group won't fall in line with prevailing indie rock elements, putting up a false intensity. They just let the delighting, surprising turns in their tightly-written and executed music speak volumes. I can't remember the last time I heard such inventive guitar passages from an American band that doesn't ape Neil Young, yet seems like they might have heard Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets or Radiohead's Ok Computer along the way, and understood the dynamic trichotomies of beauty, brain, and aggression inherent in both. I know next to nothing about Stephen and David Wade, George Patrick, or Scott Schaafsma (and Simon Hunt) other than that they had a 2002 debut EP I really need to get. But after playing their LP so much, I might write them a fan letter (and see if the slipper fits).
With music of this striking power right under our noses, the rest of America rock and its overwhelming mediocrity just lost its excuse.
--Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover
Comments