Labels: 54 40 Or Fight! Records
Review by: Tom Hughes
More mild-mannered Midwestern post-rockism from 5440oF, not up to the recent and mighty fine standard of the Abilene album but bain’t no write off neither. From the off this lot can’t help but bring to mind Karate, and being one of those slightly precious, obsessive Karate-worshipping weirdos I can’t help but get the yardstick out and find 31K falling pretty short. What they do have in common is a similarly airy, studied rhythm section and spry, light-throwing Fender fret-hopping guitar player; the singer seems also to be going for an understated plaintiveness in his delivery that’s comparable to Karate’s Geoff, but if anything just doesn’t quite understate enough. Songs flit through all-out flamenco asides and sunstruck, glazed-eye pop to restless, proggy jazzrock, racing through a lot of different parts, ideas and variations in a way that brings Faraquet to mind, both in the song structuring and the playing itself. At points this sophistication starts to stick in the craw a little, veering into off-puttingly grown-up, noodly easy-listening post-rock, with the more florid, over-expressive vocal tricks not helping one bit. But that’s not to discount the daring, squally, scattershot prog parts that prove really ear-catching when they hit the mark.