This is a strange EP from a strange band.? I have no idea where to even begin with this one.? It's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard mind you, but to my ears it is pretty out there compared to 99% of what I get in the mail.? And it does indeed defy genre classifications as well.? You just can't do it.? Jazzy basslines?? Check.? Progressive rock infused percussion elements?? You got it.? Sparse indie rock guitar work?? Sometimes.? A bluesy warmth to the recording?? Sure, why not.? And yet the end result sounds like none of that stuff.? Is it avant-garde?? Maybe.? Sometimes, I guess.? I don't know.? Most of the music is pretty soft, with repetitious and throbbing basslines laying down the bulk of the density, while softly sung/spoken (somewhere in the middle) vocals that almost have a theatrical sort of narrative characteristic deliver the lines deep in the mix.? But there's definitely not a verse/chorus structure thing going on.? Most of the songs flow into one another and kind of shift and change from start to finish while building around a theme rather than doing a lot of jumping back and forth between different parts.? I love the acoustic guitars and added instrumentation that starts with "A Thousand Birds", which makes for one of my favorite tracks herein despite the fact that I don't care for the vocals.? I don't hate the vocals by any means, they just don't do anything for me, and in compositions such as this they end up distracting me from the music, which is unfortunate. "Things We Know for Sure" closes and is a little more song oriented than most of the other material, though still possessing similarly abstract qualities throughout. The vocals are a little more "acceptable" (for me) in this one, but I still think a little bit of a shift in the vocal delivery could make a pretty significant difference for this band. As mentioned the recording is nice and warm, with a great sense of natural density and presence, so I have no qualms there. For such a soft and spacious style there's a good amount of volume and detail going on, so everything does sound very smooth and works great with their delivery. The layout keeps it simple with bright orange photographs of a theater and such with the lyrics inside over a straight black background, complete with some stage directions and whatnot, as if the EP is a play or something. I'm not really taken by the lyrics for whatever reason, the stuff's just not grabbing me and some of it seems too typical in its use of oddities such as, "We're buying up neckties like it's going out of style." I don't know, then again, against the music I guess such a lyrical approach does at least make sense, right? This is definitely not the kind of thing I'd listen to regularly, but I have to give them credit for doing their own thing and having a really slick recording working in their favor.
[Acutest]
Running time - 19:12, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: A Thousand Birds, Things We Know for Sure]
Acutest Records - http://www.acutestrecords.com
