| From gigged debaser, who's previous mini-album "It's far too easy to get things right" was reviewed here a few months ago, returned recently with a new CD, entitled "Thirty Fingers". This 6 track album sees the band continue to produce lo-fi guitar pop songs which bring to mind acts like Eels and Stephen Malkmus. The CD comes in the appropriately lo-fi packaging of a plastic sleeve containing a hand-written insert with brief notes on the band - and note that it is completely hand written, no photocopies here! For "Thirty Fingers", the band have decided to ignore their more "rock" leanings, evident on the last album's instrumentals, to instead concentrate on their knack for catchy melodic songs with quiet vocals and a wry sense of humour running through the lyrics. The first track, "This Is" starts of with quiet vocals backed by a muted guitar and begins to build up slowly, but then bursts into life after half a minute into a superb fuzzed-up hook of a chorus which, despite loud guitars, retains the hushed vocal style which is used throughout the CD. The CD moves straight into track two, "Slow Suicide". The song is not at all dreary or depressing as the title might suggest, instead being a delightful pop song with the kind of darkness in the lyrics which stood out in their last album. The third track , "Scarlet Fever", is the only one on the album to be written drummer / keyboard player Jason Blyth (the rest being written by guitarist Ross Thorburn). The song does not depart hugely from the style of the other songs, although you will either love or hate the lyrics, which feature some great quirky humour combined with some rather forced rhyming. The vocalist also seems to struggle with a couple of higher notes. "She" is a slight progression for debaser's sound as it features some programming as well as the usual instruments. This actually works in well with the band's music, adding a new dimension and showing that they are keen to try new things. The fifth track is a fairly simple song, short (1min 44), but pleasant, if unexciting. The final track is also the longest at just over 4 minutes. It is starts as another gentle song with quiet vocals, but features a lively sing along chorus and some more lively electric guitars to end the album in memorable fashion. Overall, I think this is a thoroughly decent mini-album. The band have a good sound and there are some great guitar-pop moments which are well worth the paltry purchase price If (as well you should!) you want to buy a copy, contact [email protected]. The band have some tracks to download at www.mp3.com/debaser if you want to investigate them further. Mike |
| Thirty Fingers |