Try as I might, but I just cannot characterize this as “screamo,” or even generic screamo at that. And while I haven’t heard very much at all from this group previous to this CD, my interest was peaked by their supposed jazzy influence and implementation of a sax.
While this music is challenging to a degree, I certainly wouldn’t call it “jazzy,” and the sax content is minimal at best (not that it’s that big of a deal). From the song and album titles, to the artwork found in the packaging, to the CD’s introduction, you’re made aware of the band’s sense of humor, which lessens the pretentious air enough for the open-minded listener to give it a fair shake.
You definitely get your fair share of angular, raw, and rhythmic instrumentation that often gives way to a fair amount of buried melodies combined with a fairly limited amount of dance punk clichés. That is, of course, with the exception of the vocals, which are all too par for the course and leave much to be desired.
Musically, I think that this band could do much more unhampered by the stylistic burden that for whatever reason they’ve decided to adopt, but ultimately they sound like a more coherent version of Arab on Radar with punk rock savvy. Certainly not generic, but not nearly the high-art they’d probably like to be considered as.
– Tom Youth
Blow Up The Eiffel Tower (RevHQ)