Hermit Thrushes - Slight Fountain

 

A 5 piece from Philadelphia, Hermit Thrushes gave us at MuHead a pre-release copy of their new EP Slight Fountain and on first listen I bet my friend a fiver that they all had beards- a quick look on their myspace page and I was 5 quid up!

The reason for this is something that Im beginning to notice about beards and music.. Find any band that is expressive, kinda against musical theory, who laughs at the thought of being commercial and you'll most likely find a beloved beardy-weirdy somewhere.

Ok, Im a huuuge fan of Math rock. I love music that is unprecedented, full of little twists and turns that you dont expect. Basically, I want music to surprise me and math rock does all this. Throw the rules of structure, progressions and keys out the window and you're talking my language.

The Hermit Thrushes are doing this- they dont play in key, they dont stick to conventional structures, they're doing it the way they want to. Which I am impressed by. However (yes there is a however), it's not quite working. The hardest part about going against musical law is still getting it to sound musical and I'm sorry to say that this record sounds, well kinda wrong. Most of it is out of time, which is fine, but it gets frustrating after a while.

There is one saving grace though, a track called Ceci which is great. A rambling opus, slightly reminiscent of Pavement circa Slanted and Enchanted, that drifts from sleep walking verses to squeeling cresendos. This band can do it all, they all have talent and the skill so Im not going to write them off, just say that they have the potential, but it doesn't shine through in this EP.

5/10 (although if all the songs were like Ceci, 7/10)

Fliski

Find Hermit Thrushes on MuHead

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