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I have to admit, I may be a bit biased with this review. I actually know the guys in This Is Adelaide and have had nothing but good experiences with them(except for a single one with the “left handed guitar player”, who stills refuses to acknowledges the validity of hippies in modern culture, but I digress as it really is of little importance and levity). An attempt though shall be made at a somewhat objective review.
My trepidation with this disc was could the band be able to capture the fury and energy of their live perfomances in the studio. The main differnce between the live versions of these songs and the newly recorded ones was the vocals. Throughout the EP a share of the vocals are electronically treated but, unlike most cases, it actually enhances their effectiveness, giving them a hunting resonance with the absence of self indulgence. The song ‘Gravity’ begins the disc with the its intro now given its own name(‘hey, nice sweat pants’). The lurching beginning merged with spoken word lyrics and spacey middle part make this song click. If the world was a fair and truly appreciative place….. well at least if radio didn’t just play shit the next song, ‘Seahorses, compacts cars’, would be at gain this band the attention they deserve. A great vocal performance is given here by bassist/vocalist Kris Kaczor. Dare I say it’s a good……pop song? Okay I won’t, but perhaps a good math-y post rock pop song? Hell yeah. ‘Your Union Rep’, to me, is the centerpiece of the album. Odd time signatures, mellow intro, treated vocals, great drumming(via Sami Jano)and the multipart jam at the end represents the band, to me, at its best….for now. “Don’t Forget The Turn Signal” is gives all the vocalists in the band a place to show what they do best. Spoken vocals by Iain Cartwright are layered over by Kaczor sing song-y refrains with guitarist/vocalist Ryan Moon getting in with the haunting repetition of “remember the time…..” The disc ends on a mellow note with the instrumental “ken doesn’t want to type.” At the end of this song you quietly hear someone ask(no joke) the question, “did that rock or what?” Indeed, is my response.
14 out of 15 beavers polled would chew through 3-6 logs to buy this cd.