Theta "Tone Poems for Sad Times" CD
[Translation Loss]
I know nothing at all about this band and had no idea what to expect from the disc, so I was pleased to find that their brand of what I'd have to call lush and droning emo/indie rock with smatterings of post-hardcore solidifies Translation Loss as a truly diverse label that has anything but a "token sound".  Apparently there are members of Reggie and the Full Effect, Coalesce, and The Esoteric involved here (three bands that I'm not really a fan of), but obviously this has little to nothing in common with any of those acts... a testament to the members' taste for variety, indeed.  The songs herein range from four to eight minutes and shift from resonant clean passages and reverberating note patterns to lightly dingy distorted power chords and repetitious time signatures - all with really smooth singing that has a light filter of effects over it to add character and bring the vocals in tighter against the musical tones.  I'm quite a fan of the singing, as consistent and generally laidback as it is, it just works, and the dude's got a nice voice.  "Mutants" is the longest track and also flirts with brief hints of keyboards and acoustic guitars, in addition to some noisy guitar textures lingering the background on occasion, making for one of the more dynamic and intricately layered pieces, and one of my favorites since the writing is quite consistent in flow and pacing.  Very nice.  "Reanimations" brings in some programmed percussion for a quick stint, but there's not much of that element going on.  "Spaceshift" is a little more straightforward in some ways, letting distorted guitars and a shorter, more traditional framework take hold, but at the same time the riffs are fucking amazing - often layering acoustic and electric guitars with a lot of creative interplay going on that jumps out immediately and makes for one of the strongest tracks herein.  The recording is pretty nice, too.  I do feel like it needs a little extra something, but I'm not entirely sure what.  I guess maybe the guitars feel like they're not as full as the vocals or basslines, and there are some gaps that need filling, but other than that they're in a good position.  The vocals sound perfect, the bass tone is great, the drums are in place, etc.  I guess adding some volume and a little mass without muddying anything up would help bring out more of the rhythmic force to the material.  The layout uses lots of busy layers of computerized looking imagery, which in its most literal form I don't care for, but some of the more abstract layers look awesome, especially with the effects created by putting metallic silver and metallic blue inks together.  The text arrangements are effective as well, definitely atypical.  The lyrics are abstract yet suggestive and could deal with anything from personal issues to socio-political commentary given certain lines like, "Pretend that you're the same now, Without my eyes can I see freedom?  Were you all out there fighting for your life for fear of being on the frontline?  Vacant hearts hold fast for a new hope, Is it too late and have we gone astray?"  I'm definitely a fan of this, and look forward to hearing more.  In a full-length setting they'd need to put a little more effort into differentiating the songs from one another, as there are a lot of similarities here that might wear thin were there another 15 - 30 minutes of material, but as an EP I'm definitely into the atmosphere that these five songs lay down.  Good work.  Those looking for something chilled out that's not very typical should look into this one. (7/10)
Running time - 29:05, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Mutants, Spaceshift]
Translation Loss Records - http://www.translationloss.com

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