Search - Oxford Collapse :: Good Ground

Jangly not jangled follow-up album

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 08/11/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you liked their debut, "Some Wilderness," this is more of the same nervous, jangled rather than jangly, Mission of Burma influenced post-punk. At this still-early point for this trio, consistency is fine, but their third album better start expanding their by-now established groove, or monotony will follow. More experimentation beyond their imitation is needed.



At times I heard The Cure, early REM, and Wire also bubbling up from the mix. The yelping vocal style's not my favorite, but it does fit the tunes, as if the Feelies had been converted to cover Joy Division at their most frenetic. Unlike the Feelies, these songs do not open up much, but instead stay compressed, brief, and their tension rarely comes to a climax. The sound of repression, pressed on disc."