Categories : Featured Review, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: David Coats |
2007’s National Anthem Of Nowhere saw Canadian indie rock veterans Apostle Of Hustle at the top of their game, expertly balancing distinctive melodies and rhythms in full, polished arrangements. Eats Darkness, with its conceptual theme of examining reality’s ugly and violent elements, is a departure which will leave listeners scratching their heads. Then again, reality also leaves us scratching our heads.
The record is a mere 35 minutes long, with only eight proper songs; the other five tracks are interludes meant to tie the themes together through sound effects (car crashes, automatic gunfire, sirens, threatening voiceovers) that seem outside the band’s wheelhouse almost to the point of parody. The eight full songs are all musically distinct from each other, making for a diverse if disjointed listen.
In comparison to the band’s previous releases, AoH reign in their more sprawling arrangements, preferring instead to build more simply on guitar, bass and drums. Simpler arrangements require a stronger lead vocal, and with all due respect to Andrew Whiteman, a strong lead vocal isn’t something he really possesses. The record’s most obvious gems are the two that have the strongest innate melodies, and which feature Lisa Lobsinger sharing vocals with Whiteman, ‘Soul Unwind’ and ‘Xerses.’ The former opens with mysterious muffled horns before exploding into addictive, sunny pop (“darkness”? What darkness?), while the latter matches a strong, up-tempo riff and blistering chorus with lyrics packing just the right amount of satire. AoH also embrace a desire to experiment with reggae influences, with solid-if-unspectacular results, such as ‘Eazy Speaks,’ and ‘Perfect Fit,’ but which are ultimately sold by the confidence in the band’s performance.
It’s an accomplishment to make essentially a 35 minute, eight song record and still have critics refer to it as “overstuffed.” With an abundance of ideas that don’t necessarily connect despite what appear to be very deliberate attempts, the record’s chaotic, hit-and-miss nature may inadvertently convey the record’s intended concepts better than order ever could.
