3 keepers
keeper avg .300
Their third album was a big one as "Phantom Limb" was everywhere in 2007, though it starts with kind of a whimper; "Sleeping Lessons" starts as an atmospheric retro-science "house of the future" ditty before adopting an early Arcade Fire rock-drive. The album's second single "Australia" skips peppily along, but these attempts and the abbreviated "Pam Berry" are but an introduction to "Phantom Limb"*****, an imperceptibly-building aural feast finished by James Mercer's aching melody; it's an impressive composition few but Brian Wilson could conceive. The heavily syncopated "Sea Legs"**** has a catchy on-off-on rhythm that is also memorable. For me the most divisive track is the next, "Red Rabbits"****, the second track with a sparkling retro-chemistry lab atmosphere. "Out of a gunnysack fall red rabbits, Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion" may be the most un-rock-and-roll couplet sung in any pop song; but this and the song's other conjured images are striking, as is the song's dreamy bridge and solo that follows. After this strong trio the brooding "Black Wave" and "Split Needles" are the most interesting tracks, as "Turn On Me" and "Girl Sailor" are unremarkable power-pop and retro-pop respectively, and the album ends with another sleepy-time acoustic ballad "A Comet Appears."
Comments