So far, this split series has been a smorgasbord of tasty morsels thatleft me coming back for more. It had to happen sooner or later thatthere would be a dish that I'd want to pass on, and that's the casewith Life & Times.The Shoal have gotten the closest to becoming one with the other bandon this edition, but the results are not particularly remarkable ornoteworthy. In fact, a lot of it comes off like filler, or a perpetualwait for something that may or may not ultimately arrive. The firsttrack, though featuring some nice atmospherics and vocal effects, isnothing more than an introduction of what the listener is about tohear, as well as a thank you for listening thus far. It's unnecessary,as most are probably buying the EP on the name recognition of CerberusShoal alone, and it's a bit heavy-handed in areas, like a long-windedSunday gospel about the importance of holding your head up. After that,the music assumes the shape of a low gurgle and whisper routine, slowlyraising over a low chirp into the peaks and valleys of various melodicexperiments. I had grown fond of the bombast of previous collaborationsand thought maybe this was just a temporary departure, but it continuesfor the whole release, never quite forming a congruous whole. There ishope on the third track, "Continuumed," as structure seeps in and atrue song emerges, but then the fourth track offers more of the samesonic tinkering. Unfortunately, the end result sounds like just someknob twiddling and experimentations with effects and small chordprogressions and melodies rather than a true collaborative effort onsweeping compositions like the previous CDs in the series. I was leftmissing the latter, and though their is obviously a great deal ofcreativity and talent at work, it just didn't affect me the way I'dhoped it would. Read More
