1x****
During the first half of "Fake Empire"**** it seems that you have stumbled into work modeled after Leonard Cohen, until at the halfway point the time changes and the band's sound builds until there is a chorus of horns playing off each other, a great effect. The beginning of "Mistaken For Strangers" is beautifully recorded and sounds very promising, but ends up resembling a more professional Interpol, as does the guitar-driven "Apartment Story". "Brainy" also starts more interestingly than it ends up. If the full and dominating drums were absent I would be hard pressed to tell the band from Cohen, and the laconic vocal delivery lets the songs seem aimless. "Green Gloves" can only be described as sad bastard - at least the string intro of "Squalor Victoria" has a unique and resonant feel. It's a shame the consistently subdued vocal delivery flattens the sound of the whole record. Only on "Racing Like A Pro" does the delivery rise above a mumble.
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