For their third release, this Montreal-based quartet continue to boldlytry and walk the seldom-attempted line between improvisational noiseand instrumental jam band antics. There's a good reason why this lineis seldom attempted. Their noise skills aren't quite up to anything ofinteresting note yet while the backing the bassist and drummer providerarely, if ever, stray from the monotonous one-bar melodies repeated adnauseam. It's almost as if I'm listening to a high school band beforethey split in half, with the rhythm section forming a funk outfit andthe guitarists heading off to art school. Maybe I'm being a bit harshhere, and in fact I wouldn't run screaming from the ice cream shoppe ifit was playing on their speakers, but there is a strong need for adominant focal point: a lead instrument. Even a rhythmic vocalist orfeverent trumpet could move this album from the "interesting" categoryto actually being enjoyable. More than that, the melodies really need abit of a forward motion so it doesn't feel like I'm in a running carwhose tires are spinning in place. They're onto something, however. Thedrones, found sounds and tape recordings build decent atmospherics butpost-production audio editing and digital manipulations aren't verycompelling. The energy levels are high but too much repetition resignsthis album to being sonic wallpaper for a mindless aerobicise sessionor fixing dinner in a hurry to. Chop chop, click click glitch, gottarun! -
samples:
