Labels: Field
Review by: Kunal Nandi
Some background first, as that may be all that you need, sad though it is to say. Ann Arbor are two blokes and a drum machine, none of whom bother with singing.
Right, I think that’s already lost most of the readership, which is a damn shame, because Ann Arbor doesn’t deserve to be written off as a mere novelty act. Not that they’re not totally snooker-loopy mind, but they’re not being wilfully obtuse with their music either. I mean, I guess they are doing what comes naturally. Mozart didn’t always need people singing in order to make his audiences whoop and cry.
However, Ann Arbor don’t sound like Mozart. They sound like Big Black, although without the misanthropic rantings over the top of course. This is NO BAD THING, although these catchy, scratchy riffs can lack direction and force at times. They sometimes like to break it down and flex the drum machine’s “Demo” button every so often too, which is nice.
This album’s good. I have no idea whether I’ll ever be in the mood to give it another spin though.