Labels: self released
Review by: Andy Malcolm
There is no end in sight. Twiddlemo is still being pumped out at a ridiculous rate. Boys in bands, yelping. Fortunately Park Jefferson sound more like Treetops than most of the bands from this genre, which scores highly with me. “Closet Anthem” opens the demo up and is a total blast. A calvacade of spiralling guitars and off key singing and yelling. Sure, there are plenty of moments where they try and play guitar like American Football, but it’s all sped up and dorky. The recording is barely there, bringing an element of chaos to the sound as the distorted fuzz and incompetence blend together sweetly. Good work. There is also plenty to like about “There’s Too Much Talk About Ghosts” with the strained vocals again at the forefront. The guitars chime away, never getting too mathy which is another element that I appreciate. Although it seems like they ran out of ideas half way through and just muddle their way to the end. “A Homemade Portland” brings things to a close in a pretty special manner, and is by far the longest track at 4:17. This is another speedy and scruffy effort, pleasingly messy and muddled. I particularly like how the lyrics fit the theme of the demo title, and they often have dudes talking just barely audibly whilst the main guy sings. That shit is pretty ‘mo. I just get the lingering feeling that if they stick around as a band for a while, that all the imperfections and cuteness will get cleaned up and they’ll get lost in the scrum with all the other similar bands. As it stands though, this recording sticks out for me as being genuinely ‘mo rather than an exhibition of guitar technique.
Yep, it feels like it’s been done to death in the past 18 months, but not many bands from this bizarrely productive little scene have managed to evoke Treetops (who accidentally foreshadowed this whole thing by a couple of years), so this gets the thumbs up.