Furthermore "Sheandi" CD
[Tooth & Nail]
The press release for this record compared the duo's hip-hop stylings to Scapegoat Wax, which really got me interested... because I'm a big Scapegoat Wax fan and I didn't think anyone else had even heard of them really. But in all honesty this stuff can't even touch the mastery of Scapegoat Wax. I like the music, but the guy's lead vocals just don't really do it for me, his voice just sort of rubs me the wrong way. It works better when he drops some fast vocal patterns, and I love the female backing vocals in tracks like "Thanks for Noticing" and "Letter to Myself". In all honesty I'd like this a lot more if it was just the hip-hop influenced music with the girl singing, because her singing voice is awesome and I think the material would have a lot more feeling if she was more central, because the guy just sort of sounds like he's talking to a rhythm, there's a good flow... but he sounds more like he's talking than a lot of "rappers" do. The music is really fucking good, though. "Going Somewhere Fast" is the best track overall, perfectly blending in some great male/female vocal harmonies with really curious and slightly bleak yet melodic music that complements the lead vocal style a bit better. They close with a cool cover of R.E.M.'s "Fall on Me" (allowing the female vocals to take the lead) with a weird 80's pop sort of twist to the beats. Not bad. The recording is also quite nice. There's a lot of detail to the mix, the lows are dense, the highs are bright. It sounds really fucking good. I have no complaints there. Even though the design style looks like something trendy that would be used in an Old Navy ad or something like that, the layout here does look cool, and I like the silhouetted imagery and simple color scheme with repeating circles and patterned lines. There are a ton of lyrics packed into this booklet, and most of them are really personal (with a purpose) and sort of have a stream of consciousness type of flow going on in some respects, "We're forever in the semifinals, Finally found what we're all looking for and it's sort of fabulous we have this mechanized way with language, Disconnect anguish, Hold hands at a distance, We're the world of technology's latest, And so far so good since we are still dragging our wires dead as our desires are..." I think this is sort of original music, and I would be curious to hear something from them in the future, but it needs work. Among other things the record's just too long. 45+ minutes can really start to drag when it comes to this stuff. An EP with the five best songs from this full-length would have been quite a strong release, but alas... we'll see what the future brings. (6/10)
Running time - 46:13, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Thanks for Noticing, Going Somewhere Fast, Fall on Me]
Tooth & Nail Records - http://www.toothandnail.com

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