Pterodactyl - Arnold's Park - CD (2010)

Labels: Deleted Art
Review by: Gareth L

Alas, I wanted to like this CD more than I actually did. The first thing I heard was ‘Allergy Shots’ on the band’s MySpace page which was a delicious 4 minutes of hazy lo-fi indie with a really sweet vocal refrain of ‘the grass isn’t greener…’ that I couldn’t get out of my head for the rest of the night. That, without doubt, is the standout song here, and although this album (or possibly EP, how does one tell with a CD half an hour long?) showcases some really interesting stuff, unfortunately it is peppered with a couple of unnecessary instrumental ‘noise’ tracks and ideas that don’t quite work. There are 10 tracks on the CD but the tracklist and the promo sheet only lists 7 which basically says ‘yeah, we know these aren’t proper tracks’ to me. It’s kind of frustrating because there are some really lovely moments on this disc, they’re just enveloped by what sounds a bit like a loud band attempting to slow things down a little, be hip and Animal Collective and not quite following it through properly. It just didn’t quite click for me, perhaps because I had such high hopes after hearing ‘Allergy Shots’, but I may check back in with them in the future to see if they evolve any further.