Search - Henry's Child :: Clearly Confused

The second album from Henry's Child is a giant leap from their debut, which was excellent but suffered from too much material and weak production. Clearly Confused is better on both counts; the songs are fewer and tighter, and the production is considerably improved, allowing the strength of the band's music to shine through. As on Mumbles & Screams, there's a mix of hard-edged, aggressive songs (such as "Flicker" and "What a Pity") and slower almost-ballads ("Simple Request" and "Color of Regret") that works well. The only real weakness is that for some reason, the band decided to include snippets from an instructional hypnosis record between the songs. This distracts from the material, instead of enhancing it, and really should have been left out. -- Genevieve Williams