Don't Mess With Texas "s/t" CD
[Moonlee]
Despite the band name and meager number of songs, this six-track disc is actually a full-length that runs nearly 40 minutes, and the band hails from Croatia, playing an instrumental and loosely experimental style of music based around guitar, bass, drums, and piano.  Most of the music is pretty chilled out and somber, certainly carrying with it somewhat of a soundtrack quality, where the rhythm section keeps things fairly structured and the piano repetitiously offers melody while the swirl around under varying effects or crispy distortion.  At times the writing is in more of an emo/indie rock vein with just the right balance of melody and dissonance, never getting too heavy but certainly possessing more of an edge.  It's also during some of these moments that I find the piano to be rather disruptive, as the piano playing is simply not that interesting.  The piano lines are very simple and repetitive, and the bright sound really breaks through the mix and becomes irritating at times.  It usually fits during the more abstract passages, but the louder dynamics would definitely warrant letting up on the piano in my opinion.  Another option would be to use softer keyboards instead, as during the start of "We Excused Ourselves to the Bathroom and Had a Little Cry", which is an effective solution in this particular instance, though I still believe that songs like "This Plane is Definitely Crashing" would be more energetic and emotional without any keyed instrumentation whatsoever.  I really enjoy the melodically droning guitar lulls in "God Might Want to Change His Mind" as well, which create a great crescendo as they increase in volume and distortion.   I also appreciate the sound quality.  The mix is balanced and spacious, the percussion has a nice live sort of resonance going on, and the bass is an extremely dominant instrument here.  Some of the distorted guitars are a little bit raw, but effectively so, and I actually enjoy that aspect of the production in this case.  The layout is really simple and consistent, using few colors, scarce text, and just a few scribbled sort of illustrations, and that's about it.  I really like this CD, but I have to hold a bit of a grudge against the piano.  I've never been a big fan of piano, period, but I do think this group uses it well at times.  It should be employed sparingly though, and a greater variety of keyboard sounds should be explored if they feel like every member of the band needs to contribute at all times.  Because were they a trio I would easily grant this a 7/10, but the piano is disturbing the listening experience for me overall.  There's a lot of potential here and I'd love to hear more from this band, however.  There's a great deal of feeling (and at times intensity) in these songs and that's not easy to achieve.  Not bad.  I definitely respect this work and think the band could accomplish wonderful things in the future. (6/10)
Running time - 37:48, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: We Excused Ourselves to the Bathroom and Had a Little Cry, God Might Want to Change His Mind]
Moonlee Records - http://www.moonleerecords.com

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