A Surplus
of 1
- Pyros and Unpunished Crimes
(Friendly Psychics Music) 5 stars
Friendly
Psychics Music is an independent collective based in Ohio and Colorada.
Their early releases offered all some kind of lo-fi indie rock, but a few
months back, I had the pleasure to review the first outing by Unified Alarm
System, the label’s first electronic band consisting of Brainswarm’s
Tim Donovan and label co-owner Chris Jones. A Surplus Of 1 sees the latter
acting all by himself. The seven songs on Pyros And Unpunished Crimes are
evidently not that different from UAS, which I happen to prefer though.
A
Surplus Of 1’s major problem is, that despite being limited to
the shorter length of an EP, the music never really manages to sound
cohesive.
The record starts with This Week’s Featured Machine, a rhythmic experiment
not unlike the Residents, which is followed by A Whistler’s German
Passport, whose saxophone sample gives it a certain acid jazz touch. Knitting
With Pliers takes things back to more industrial flavoured territories,
before Quantified Membrane is toying once again with saxophone sounds.
Being ripped
thus from abrasive avant-gardism to more ambient moods makes it really
hard to get into the music.
Maybe the songs should have been assembled in
a different order, but maybe this is exactly what was intended by the artist.
The composition
of strange
synthesizers, loops, samples and circuit-bent toys is of course quite
intriguing, but the overall result seems in need of structure.
Instead of sounding
like a seamless entity, Pyros And Unpunished Crimes feels more like a
collection of ideas tossed randomly at the audience.
Chris Jones,
apart from being one of the label’s owners,
is also active in nearly every band on Friendly Psychics Music.
In the regard, he reminds
me of Robert Pollard, another Ohio native, who also seems unable to find
enough outlets for his creativity.
-Lex Thiel