I was really curious to hear this, but in the back of my head I was unsure of what to expect, and almost feared that I would really hate it on some level. Thankfully nothing could be further from the truth! Some may be thrown off by the often bluesy approach and the inclusion of banjo, keyboards, saxophone, viola, and slide guitar amongst the staples of electric and acoustic guitars, bass, and drums, but the songwriting is generally fucking impressive, and far more emotional than what the overall image of the CD may represent to the listener. The second track, "No Goodbyes", instantly proves the power of this record - a fucking masterpiece of slow and flowing melodies with a dark yet memorable atmosphere and impeccable softly sung female vocals. Many of the tracks are instrumentals, and often those with vocals are still largely based around instrumental passages, but even still the music really does convey a lot of emotion, and it's diverse as well. "Al Lindner's Hat" has a strong country/blues ring, "Solid Gold" uses some funky effects to where it could probably be argued that there's a quirky prog rock undertone involved, "Mr. Crosby" has more of a weird upbeat indie-ish rock thing going on, and then some. One incredibly bizarre moment is "When I Was Your Man", a track whose vocals were already on a previously used reel of tape the band was using... it all fit together so they were left in place. The recording is very nice in my opinion. There's a lot of natural warmth to everything, as well as a lot of clarity (especially to some of the acoustic guitars and banjo runs). The vocals are well placed right in the thick of the instrumentation, no one element is dominant, etc. There are certain touches of ruggedness floating just at the edges of some of the tones, very subtly, but that's a strength here, as it really adds to the vibe of the music. The layout keeps things nice and simple with a bold icon in the cover, simple color schemes and patterns, etc. Lyrics are sparsely used on the album, but I do enjoy some of the bits and pieces that do appear: "Scratched a hole in my palm, to find where it went wrong, just like when the serum sits in our bones. Ripped apart all my thoughts, collected her nails." Definitely a great CD. Very different and, dare I say, quite original. I fully recommend this to anyone who enjoys good music and is in the market for something out of the ordinary.
[Infernal Racket/Translation Loss]
Running time - 43:16, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: No Goodbyes, Coronado 2, When I Was Your Man, Vision]
Translation Loss - http://www.translationloss.com
