Cute, folky pop -- Takes about 4 listens to soak in...
Not Mozart | Detroit | 05/26/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I wasn't into this when I got it 4 years ago or so. I shelved it for a while and recently got into it.
Wow this is a tremendous album! Perhaps it was the folky feel that I wasn't expecting upon first listen a few years back that didn't click. I wouldn't compare this to Elliot Smith because it's quite care free -- there's no self loathing going on here. To me they sound like contemporaries of some weird cross between Nick Drake, Yo La Tengo and ABBA. Perhaps Architecture In Helsinki is a fan (there is on song that kinda sounds like the additude of AIH's whole second album.) The boy/girl singing is a definate plus -- reminicant of Mates of State.
It's definately indie pop. The songs are all over the place too, but they feel like an album. For instance, the second song has a clean sounding tambourine with no reverb -- it sounds like they're in the room with you. On the last song the tambourine returns execpt it sounds like it's in the next room this time. Very nice production. I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't have an allergic reaction to the word 'cute'."
Difficult, pretty rock'n'roll
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 06/03/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a bit mellower and more varied than your average Mint release -- here's another fine entry into the yes-we're-imitating-someone-but who-cares? wave of poetically minded, Elliot Smith-or-was-that-Belle & Sebastian influenced indie bands. These Vancouverites deliver the goods -- plenty of moody yet beautiful sketches of modern emotional displacement and pointedly detatched, irony-laden humor. A few songs rock out, but mostly this is a soft & quiet kinda album, and likely to keep your attention if you like that terrain. Worth checking out."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1