An Automotive - An Automotive
Pedigree without focus mars an otherwise enjoyable disc.
An Automotive is a reasonably high-class affair, containing students of Boston's Berkley School of Music joining forces for what proves to be a low-fi enjoyable electronic rifforama.
From the Flaming Lips-alike opener All Flint and Steel, No Spark onward, this is an album of engaging electronic sounds. It's a pleasing amalgam of space/stoner rock and vaguely experimental keys/samples - there's not exactly enough here to make one bust a move to the record store and demand a copy of the disc, but it's good enough to ensure that it'll get a couple of plays when you're looking for a bit of off-kilter calmness.
Whatever Happened To Galveston Island sounds like Can tear-assing it across the desert in a stolen car; drones, wind-shear wafts of keys and frenetic drumming conspire to make a sleek escapee of a tune. Unfortunately, this approach, good as it is, is overplayed elsewhere, occasionally sounding like someone's corralled Calexico into writing the theme-tune for a sitcom that takes place in a mall.
An Automotive's approach is rather reminiscent of David Bridie's recent work; there's a sense of contrived beats and low-key darkness. The strictly instrumental cuts are the ones that form the most cohesive tunes; Ballad Of Julee Cruise is a tasty slice of Badalamenti-styled smoothness, and indicative of the sort of moods that An Automotive can induce - it's just a shame that's undone elsewhere with desultory, cracked vocalizations that detract more than they add. The only time the approach works is on album closer The Anchor, which sounds like Weezer broadcasting from space.
The messiness inherent in this release should disappear by the ensemble's next album - accompanied, hopefully, by the emergence of a little more clarity of purpose. An Automotive have great musicianship on hand; they just need a sense of unity in order to best use those talents.
This article originally appeared on splendidezine.com.
An Automotive is a reasonably high-class affair, containing students of Boston's Berkley School of Music joining forces for what proves to be a low-fi enjoyable electronic rifforama.From the Flaming Lips-alike opener All Flint and Steel, No Spark onward, this is an album of engaging electronic sounds. It's a pleasing amalgam of space/stoner rock and vaguely experimental keys/samples - there's not exactly enough here to make one bust a move to the record store and demand a copy of the disc, but it's good enough to ensure that it'll get a couple of plays when you're looking for a bit of off-kilter calmness.
Whatever Happened To Galveston Island sounds like Can tear-assing it across the desert in a stolen car; drones, wind-shear wafts of keys and frenetic drumming conspire to make a sleek escapee of a tune. Unfortunately, this approach, good as it is, is overplayed elsewhere, occasionally sounding like someone's corralled Calexico into writing the theme-tune for a sitcom that takes place in a mall.
An Automotive's approach is rather reminiscent of David Bridie's recent work; there's a sense of contrived beats and low-key darkness. The strictly instrumental cuts are the ones that form the most cohesive tunes; Ballad Of Julee Cruise is a tasty slice of Badalamenti-styled smoothness, and indicative of the sort of moods that An Automotive can induce - it's just a shame that's undone elsewhere with desultory, cracked vocalizations that detract more than they add. The only time the approach works is on album closer The Anchor, which sounds like Weezer broadcasting from space.
The messiness inherent in this release should disappear by the ensemble's next album - accompanied, hopefully, by the emergence of a little more clarity of purpose. An Automotive have great musicianship on hand; they just need a sense of unity in order to best use those talents.
This article originally appeared on splendidezine.com.
Labels: album reviews
