Aframes - Black Forest

Maybe I’m getting old, but more and more, I find myself being bored with new music and thinking, “This isn’t as good as the good old times.” Then I find a great new band, and it snaps me back into reality, and I have to remember that most of the world’s music isn’t actually that great. Most of it isn’t horrible either. Most of it lies somewhere lost in the middle. Black Forest is just such an album. It’s hard to say anything bad about this disc, other than it just doesn’t grab me. The album is book-ended by two instrumentals and split right down the middle by a third. In between is a collection of somewhat short and choppy tracks, with a lot of songs right at (or under) the 2 minute mark. Following a kind of Joy Division / Interpol type sound with a mix of Pixies funky guitar, the band has a bit of a stick and move type sound. The melodies don’t flow through the album so much as strike at you like bee stings. What carries the album is the guitar work. The oft-times wacky and high guitar work grabs the ear and keeps the interest while occasionally forming quite a catchy melody. But the album and its songs lack identity, and this causes the album to fall a bit short. There is no distinct lyric or original moment that causes songs to stand apart from each other, and the raw sound of the album only services to aid in the monotony. Somewhat drab vocals and muddled bass make the album bland in spite of the wailing guitar. Overall, this isn’t something that will inspire much hate, but the problem is that it doesn’t inspire much of anything. It’s decent enough for what it is, but ultimately forgettable and lacks to break ground in any way. [www.subpop.com]