Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 2.5 / 5 Reviewer: Garth Paulson |
In a lot of ways, Fantasy of the Lot, the sophomore album from The Lovely Feathers is a really strong album. Unfortunately, in a lot of ways, it’s also really bad. In addition to making coming up with some sort of coherent conclusion in a review a difficult task, this good-bad dichotomy that permeates the album at every moment makes listening to it something of a war.
Propping up one army is the band’s obvious talent. True, The Lovely Feathers trade entirely in recognizable indie pop, but they do it with a great deal of skill. Songs morph and merge sometimes in unexpected ways as the band displays a well-honed melodic restlessness that keeps the proceedings interesting without becoming garishly proggy. It’s a well-crafted album to be sure and deserves praise for it.
Boosting the ranks of the second army, however, is how incredibly deliberate Fantasy of the Lot sounds. On nearly every song the band employs gigantic choruses where multiple singers gang together to shout out their hooks to the heavens. It’s a tried and true trick that does generally achieve catchiness in the same way that hitting someone with a bat is a good way to make people realize you have a bat. This coupled with the exaggerated, English affectation with which lead singer Mark Kupfert delivers all of his lines makes the album irritating pretty much anytime someone opens their mouth. The band is aiming for the bookish kid in the corner who’s all by himself and the hooligans in the nosebleeds at the same time and failing to reach either one.
All of the above leaves Fantasy of the Lot in an awkward position. It’s worth listening to in some places and downright cloying in others. The band’s songwriting chops can be easily appreciated at the same time that their pandering to the easy and obvious can be lamented. Ultimately, the war raging around Fantasy of the Lot is a stalemate. No one wins. No one loses. Everything ends up smack dab in the middle.
