Labels: Polyvinyl
Review by: Dan Baker
On Sunday during a band practice I attacked myself with a drumstick when it slipped out of my hand and cut up a large area under my left eye. Because I’m such a rock star i finished the song before doing anything about it, and by then i had painted my snare drum a pinky colour, and I looked like I was doing a pathetic imitation of a Scottish warrior. Anyhow, lying in bed with antisepctic cream all over my eye area after watching the Superbowl, which was a damn good game by the way, I was listening to this ep and it managed to distract me from the pain of my eye.
Rainer Maria have this astounding ability to rock without you really noticing it. This was not an element of theirs readily available on their first record, a gritty angst ridden scream fest of an album, and at first i didnt appreciate the change on the second record, because I naively thought they had forgot to rock. But just because you are playing these wonderfullly pretty pop songs, it doesnt mean you can’t rock. This single is very similar to the last album, three songs with a greater emphasis on the girl vocals, which though suit the new sound, is one of the things that annoys me, because I thought the dual boy/girl vocals thing was such a great (and original) concept. But the songs, especially ‘atlantic’ are so good that this one little flaw seems so unimportant that it really doesnt matter. Buy this record, but don’t do what i did and buy it at tower records for six pounds on import, and don’t attack yourself with a drumstick either.