Search - Should :: Feed Like Fishes

Its pull is moderate

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 02/20/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Warning: The fuzzy guitar at the beginning of "Fish Fourteen" may cause disorientation. In fact, the fuzzy guitar that spreads over all of Should's "Feed Like Fishes" may make you dizzy if you aren't prepared for it, so lean away from the speakers and push "play" with your toes if you must. The album opens with a catchy little repeating riff buried under staticky guitars that rise and fall. Fortunately the music is clearer in the repetitive but pretty "Sarah Missing", delicate "Lullen," ethereal "Inst2," and the slow, steady "Aside." The fuzz effect makes a reappearance in the catchy "Spangle," plodding "It Still Would," and climaxing in the chiming, fizzing, sparking "Its Pull Is Slight." (Let's just say the appeal on that song is more than slight!)Should dabbles in some melancholy pop and light jazz, and excels at rock that sounds like a Raveonettes jam session. The problem is that while the fuzzy guitar is beautifully-done in "Its Pull Is Slight," it's misapplied more often than not. In songs like the beautiful "In Nine," it merely drowns out the complicated, alluring music, and makes the haunting vocals hard to hear.What you can hear, however, is good stuff. The underlying riffs (such as the middle of "Sarah Missing) are fluid and moving. And the vocals are quite pretty, a man and woman's laid over each other so that they almost sound like one voice. On "Lullen," Tanya Maus gets a chance to sing alone with her soft, frail-sounding voice, making the delicate melody genuinely lovely.Hidden somewhere under all the fizzling, scratching guitar is some good music, but you'll have to dig to find it. When you do, what you'll find is some solid rock and pop with some very unique singing."