This trio calls their sound "low-fidelity post-punk psychedelia", and I guess I can see that to some degree, but they haven't quite pulled it off despite a few passages that do have a lot of potential. It's really more like pseudo hipster indie rock meets dark 80's new wave kind of stuff, sort of along the lines of Interpol or whatever, as a loose reference. The vocals are my biggest gripe, as the "singing" is really monotone and one-sided, with a lightly warbled delivery and a lack of vocal harmonies or range, so it comes off as unemotional and ineffective. The music's better, though. The recording could use more brightness and a fuller punch, but considering t was recorded in three days it sounds pretty good, especially for a self-released effort. You can hear all of the instruments and the mix is pretty even, so I'd just like to hear a little more definition to the basslines and brighter treble in the guitars (since they're a trio there are some gaps). Most of the riffs are pretty cool though, ranging from plodding basslines and basic drum patterns with lightly chorused clean guitar arpeggios to lightly distorted basic chord progressions, lightly noisy playing, etc. - often opting for a laidback and dark sort of sound that I can appreciate. This is especially evident in "Dead City Radio", which, as a whole, is the best song across the board - even the vocals fit better in this one, with a little more character and emphasis. The singing also gets more active in "Smoke & Mirrors", which is another of the better songs overall, but at this point it becomes evident that the vocalist is simply not a very good singer, so... something needs to be done in that department to rectify the situation. "Perrache" has thicker guitar tones and more of an abstract indie tangent going on with the looseness of the riffing, and that's another strong approach for the band on a musical level. "Cinco de Mayo", on the other hand, has a quirkier sort of new wave rock thing going on, and I'm not into that at all... the darker and more moving the better with this style, and this song's not cutting it. The layout is simple and a tad plain, but the cover is excellent in its minimalism and I really like the artwork a lot. Everything else is just white text over black backgrounds, hence looking plain, but it's clean at the very least. The lyrics are all rhymed to the point where it annoys me, so even though there are some interesting phrases here and there I'm not into the content as a whole. A lot of stuff sort of comes off as straight rock lyrics but given an abstract twist. I don't know, this is an odd disc. It's kind of unique in a way, even though a lot of the evident influences are pretty "hot" right now, but... they've got some creativity happening. And like I said, I do like a lot of the music. It's just those vocals... they're really lacking compared to the music, and that holds them back significantly, at least for me. A few of the songs aren't that great, but I think they could pull if off pretty easily with a better vocal performance. And, to be honest with you, I bet I'd really like this band if they got that stuff straightened out.
[self-released]
Running time - 42:12, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Smoke & Mirrors, Perrache, Dead City Radio]
And This Army - http://www.andthisarmy.com
