Oh God, I've tried. Really, I've done the best I can. I've played it over and over searching for crumbs of decent tunes and progression from their previous album, "Other Animals," but I'm forced into the same conslusion. ERASE ERRATA's second album, "At Crystal Palace" is just more of the same old cliches.
Opening track "Driving Test" brings it home straight away. Here we go again: spiky, spindly guitars, rubbery'n'jerky off-disco beats and the laboured and shouty, compressed vocals. The arty stance is all present and correct, with all the charm removed. Punk-funk oblivion beckons.
Actually, "At Crystal Palace" does temporarily threaten to rally as three of its' five OK tracks come early on, lulling you into a false sense of hope. Indeed, "CA.Viewing" (likeably spindly and intriguing, with mercifully short trumpet blasts before it peters out effectively); "Go To Sleep" (urgent and energetic) and "Surprize, It's Easter", which reprises the metronomic efficiency of "Marathon" from EE's debut, are all signs of creative improvement in the camp.
Sadly, it soon falls into a more familiar, predictable pattern of scattershot guitars, endlessly funked-up rhythms and annoying neurotic vocals. Tracks like "Ease On Over", "Flippy Flop" and "The White Horse Is Bucking" are painfully interchangeable exercises in form over content, while the embarrassing attempt to be epic with "Matter No Medley" falls so short it's farcical.
|
There are a couple of would-be possible ways ahead. "Owls" has genuine presence with its' tale of the birds as supernatural predators set to growling rhythms more reminiscent of early Stranglers than something from their usual funked-out metier, while the frantic onslaught that is "Harvester" has an unrelening feel that's addictive, but unfortunately these appear to be mere blips or just happy flukes on what is otherwise a grey, depressing listen, no matter how jerky and desperate the girls sound trying to cop your attention.
It has a few moments, then, but ultimately "At Crystal Palace" simply can't withstand the weight of its' own attempts to be important and different and its' would-be tunes shatter into insignificant smithereens in the process. Lovely pictures of owls on the CD itself, though.
|
