Labels: self released
Review by: Samuel Fowler
Around 80% of the time I don’t derive maximum enjoyment from listening
to music without vocals. It’s like having a cake, but with all the rad
bits missing. I listen / watch for a few songs, then start hoping
(increacingly despairingly) for someone to creep near a microphone and
start pouring their heart out about ennui or being left behind in the
mad rush of the world. Of course it generally doesn’t happen that, so
I’m left gobbling my cupcake, thinking that tasty as it is, some
chocolate chips, and icing wouldn’t go amiss. And how about a few
hundereds and thousands on top?
I couldn’t tell you precicely where Naked sit here, I really could
not. They seem to change song by song. The first song “I” (yes, all
the songs are Roman numerals…) nips off in promising style. Think of
the instrumental Belle Epoque moments, or your choice of favourite
Frenchmo meandering. Starting off with some instrumental noodling,
before the guitars come thudding in, ending in a frenzied cescendo. So
far so good. The second song keeps burning away in the same vein, but
then it all starts going a bit pineapple shaped. By the time we’ve hit
“IV” that glazed look starts growing in my eyes. They can play their
instruments well enough, but there isn’t enough variation to prevent
the songs bleeding into eachother. By the time sing six (or eight)
floats by, the neurons in my brain are drowzy, and snuggled up in bed
with some cocoa.
Perhaps it’s that my audiatory diet is full of too much musical
caffine & sugar, perhaps not allowing me to appreciate exactly what
Naked are getting up to. It’s not even that this album gets boring as
time goes on. Rather the songs get progressively less good as you go
through the album. I tried listening to them in a few different
orders, and this is definately the case. So, accordingly, I think that
the listener should ignore what Naked wanted them to do here, and
listen to the album backward. Rebellion! This way the band gets
progressively better as you go through it, and finishes up with a most
worthy flourish.