This trio plays some interesting indie rock sort of stuff that kind of sounds like Fugazi meets Slint and then some. It's often a bit cleaner and more pointedly melodic than the aforementioned acts (see the instrumental "Arctic Char", which heavily revolves around soothing clean guitars and excellent drumming), but they have their moments of jagged intensity and tactful aggression as well. "What's a Sundial in the Shade?" is another brief instrumental, though far more confusing as it's nothing but synthesizers, complete with programmed beats... so I have no idea what the hell's going on there. I don't like the vocals, though. They're just out of place. The singing isn't that strong, nor is the screaming, and the delivery has a weird sarcastic sort of ring to it that turns me away, despite the fact that I really enjoy the music a lot. What I can make out of the lyrics (and of course the song titles) goes along with this strange sort of "humorous" vocal edge, but none of that fits with what's going on musically, so I don't really understand the purpose. "'No!' Means 'Yes.'" has a totally different singing style that I really enjoy, though. It's softer and more suitable for the style of the music... that's definitely the voice they should be sticking with. Such a point is solidified by "Gasping Stares", which follows with the same soothing singing and some acoustic guitars/spacey snyth textures. The production is excellent. I don't really have any complaints. The drums are nice and warm, the guitars are crisp and bright, the bass is right there where it should be, and when the vocals are present (granted most of the CD is instrumental) they're mixed back in with the music rather than out in front of it. Good work. The layout is very minimal but looks very fucking cool. The entire package is printed in metallic silver ink on matte lavender paper. There's not much text, and what text is present is all simple and clean, and all of the imagery consists of incredibly tight line illustrations of bizarre little pictures: Hands opening a wallet with butterflies coming out of it, a hand brushing a tiny horse with a feather, corn spilling out of a hand that holds a grasshopper and a praying mantis... just weird shit. But damn are the drawings fucking great. Go figure!? I really think that if these guys chucked the synths and only used the softer singing voice, sticking with the more somber/melodic compositions, they'd be fucking awesome. But to be quite blunt this disc is equal parts excellent and equal parts crap. I'm giving the excellence the edge here because when they're good they're damn good, but they could do so, so, so much more...
[Obtuse Mule]
Running time - 36:18, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Arctic Char, Louisville, "No!" Means "Yes."]
Obtuse Mule - http://www.obtusemule.com
