PARTS & LABORReceivers
(Jagjaguwar)
**** (out of 5)
Lyrics are not the strength of Brooklyn noise-rockers Parts & Labor; the eight tracks on their new disc Receivers are peppered with muddled, eye-crossing images (“Our lungs will slowly speak the slightest sound,” they say on “Wedding in a Wasteland” — why lungs? Why “slowly”?) syntactical gibberish (“Do they know their procreation self-exterminates their ways?” they ask on “Little Ones”), and fancy words that they seem too unfamiliar with to use properly (as in the moment on “Solemn Show World” where they mispronounce “detritus”).
The anal-retentive killjoy copy editor in me was all set to dock them some points, but then I gave the album opener “Satellites” another listen, all seven glorious minutes of it, and somehow the combination of inventive, anthemic melodies, the towering wall of guitars, keyboards, and tight vocal harmonies, and the final varnish of random static seemed too thrilling to be spoiled by a few pretentious mixed metaphors. This is music that fills every corner of the room, played by musicians who sound as if they’re at least seven feet tall. When you’re that big, pretension probably comes naturally to you.
0 Comments