I make promises to my appliances regularly. "One day, Toaster, no more crumbs, I swear"… "Make this burrito glow, Ms. Microwave, and I promise I will give me you a nice wiping"… I wish people would make more promises to their CD players… like "If you are good, I will put in Avoidance Theory".
This is a very nice little record. I don't mean to make light of the six songs, but it is an ep, after all. But they say a lot in those 20 minutes. The band is only two people, but it sounds like they had a lot of good-natured ghosts working on this with them. Each of the six tracks has a slightly different feel, without seeming disjointed. Reverby voices float over crunchy guitars for a spell in the title track, while elsewhere in "Red and Whites", harmonies spiderweb over luminous vibraphone swells. The end result is an amazing pretty album with quite a bit to listen to, despite its diminutive stature.
If you enjoy slow tempo squalls of distortion with some feminine voices, this is the real deal. If you like the glitch and grandour of the Radiohead or the Grandaddy, this will have some real appeal to you as well. It will unfortunately rank high on one of those lists like "Best unheard record of 2003" but that should only serve as incentive to make their full length one of the Top 5 records in 2004.
Go get ‘em, electric can opener and Mr. Cuisinart.
- Grant Capes | 2003-11-12
