4x****
If extreme lo-fi doesn't bother you, there is a lot of charm to the feeling behind these songs. If I could snap my fingers and fix anything, it would be the chunky, dull acoustic guitar sound throughout the record. To use the overused 'that being said', opener "King Of Carrot Flowers 1"**** is strong musically and lyrically. Part 2 & 3 is more dramatic in nature and when the full band kicks in resembling an old beater pushed into the red, the sound pushes you back. Pushed into the red also describes the vocals in many parts in the title song, as well as "Two-Headed Boy"****, the minimalist centerpiece of the album; here, this intensity is propulsive as the melody is memorable. "The Fool" is a jarringly bombastic dirge, which is strange preceding the celebratory "Holland 1945"****. The passionately delivered "Oh Comely"**** and final fanfare "Ghost" are the stronger tracks on side 2, as the subtler production of "Communist Daughter" allows it to get kind of lost, and "Two Headed Boy 2" though necessary to the plot meanders too much to be taken apart from the whole.
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