2007
3 keepers
keeper avg .300
Though it's the band's seventh album, why not start with what is clearly the band's most successful one (by chart position anyway). Though I see their style being rereferred to as shoegaze it's as far away from My Bloody Valentine or Swervedriver's noisy buzz as I can imagine. Many songs do have a spacey or dreamy quality about them, partially due to Kazu Makino's childlike squeak, which is at its most Nina Persson-like (The Cardigans) on the lounge poppy "Top Ranking," the dream pop "Silently," and the airily swinging closing track "My Impure Hair."
I've not come across any references to Radiohead, who had to have influenced Amedeo Pace's subtle, usually arpeggiated guitar parts, such as on "Dr. Strangeluv" and "Publisher." "Heroine,"**** the Radiohead-iest, most "Paranoid Android"-iest song not to have any Greenwood family involvement also includes a fair amount of vocal track manipulation (another hobby of Thom Yorke) so Makino shares air time with an android cat.
I also have to note the energy that Simone Pace's drum work brings to the tracks, giving "Spring and by Summer Fall" an Arcade Fire drive and lively polyrhythm to the dramatic title track****. Simone P and Makino (on piano) lock into a badass syncopated rhythm, like Christine McVie on some Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac, providing a base for Amedeo P's more atmospheric guitar and vocal on "SW"*****. Amedeo P actually sings three of the other tracks, mostly the more traditionally rock songs like "Spring and by Summer Fall" and "Publisher." Neither Makino or Amedeo are the most engaging vocalists, even be indie standards, but fortunately a few standout tracks are memorable in other ways.
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