 |
| Complex-yet-hummable guitar melodies, richly chorused vocals...you'd be
forgiven
for mistaking Baby Ray for XTC. There's a bit more guitar bluster and
outright noise
under the hood, though, and less dependence upon lyrical banalities, but
the simple
pleasures to be found on tracks like "Buster Pig Man" and "Little Red Caboose"
echo pop's finest moments. The throaty, electronically manipulated (I
hope) vocals
and halting pace of "Snipe Hunter" will charm you in a sixties-pop style,
while the
short and sedate "Curl" unites the Beatles and dreampop's legacy. Throughout
Monkeypuzzle, Baby Ray toy with rhythmic structures, instrument
combinations (a blaring rock guitar on "Trainwreck", for instance) and vocal
style, and while the results aren't necessarily groundbreaking they provide
a pleasant
break from the legion of formulaic alternapop acts currently polluting the
airwaves
and record shops. Whether your tastes run to the dissonant drone of
"Porky's Prey"
or the jangly three/four riffs of "The Ballad of Baby Ray", you're likely
to find
something palatable on Monkeypuzzle's menu. |
|
![[splendid reviews]](../reviewbanner.gif){kind=small}
