Labels: altinvillageandmine
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I think when I first heard Eulcid many moons ago, I harrumphed and was not impressed, perhaps because they wound up the desirible label, Second Nature. I may have been a tad hasty, as this rather late vinyl issue of some songs recorded many moons ago has some good tunes on it. Eulcid impress in a rather erratic indie / post-hardcore fashion, which at it’s best points brings to mind a mix of bands such as Engine Down, Braid and Kolya. Unfortunately, they never really settle down and the songs just flit from one thing to another without really giving you a chance to get a feel for it. The vocals are mostly spoken / talky, this is pretty much the only constant! Sometimes they get a bit enamored with being fiddly, which doesn’t sit well with me. The band are at their best on the soaring “Clip” and at their least impressive on the herky-jerky tedium of the pleasantly titled “Two People Holding Hands”, though this song would make me just want to crush the hand that I was holding in frustration. Right after that they bounce into an indie rock groover that sounds like something off the Old Growth record, very nice, straight forward and easy to appreciate. “No Vocals #3” would be excellent, if only it had vocals. It’s kind of like an instrumental Braid, which I decree to be a pointless endeavour. They redeem themselves though with the rampant “Afterthought”, which revists the style but this time they bothered to record some words. Fine song.
This album just feels like a mish-mash of songs overall rather than a cohesive whole but the vocals are excellent, and there are several really good songs on here that it may well be worthy of your investigation, particularly if you enjoyed other stuff the band released.