Posted on: April 9, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Putois – The Problem Is Not A Problem Anymore / 2007 99 Hours of Secrets / 12 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/putois /

The first track on “The Problem Is Not A Problem Anymore” is “Safe Again”, and while the first few seconds seem to push individuals away, the quiet bit of indie rock that Putois put forth on the early echelons of this CD is compelling as all get out. The slightly echoing, whistling approach to this track does not build the track any further up beyond the simplistic guitar laid foundations, but it does much in tattooing the music into the heads of any listeners that have happened upon the album. The second track on “The Problem” is “Small Town”, and it goes to the other end of instrumental intensity. There is little more in the number of instruments than there was previously, but the number of layers that are present during this track far outstrips that during “Safe Again”.

This means that “Small Town” will wash over listeners and give them something to mull over for quite a long time. While this is decidedly much more lo-fi than anything else on the market, hints of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dave Matthews can be heard at the extreme peripheries of the influences present on this track. The slightly tribal approach that comes forth at points during “Small Town” will also give individual a hint – a wafting smell – of Paul Simon’s “Graceland’.  “Another Shade Of Blue” continues the guitar-heavy approach of previous track, but there seems to be something considerably different from what had previously been heard on “The Problem”. This is due to the fact that the raspy vocals that are dominant during this track have much more in common with a Lou Reed or a Neil Young than anyone else, acting as the perfect counterbalance to the smoothed-out piano line that is present during the track.

 Later tracks on “The Problem” do not disappoint in the way that many late-disc tracks do on other albums. This means that songs such as “Heart”, “Timekeepers”, and “The Lonely Traveler” are able to continue with the same general sound that had been cultivated on the previous tracks on the disc, while still adding new twists and turns to what is an already distinct and dense type of band in Putois. The band plays a stunning brand of alternative music that is truly timeless. If the soundtrack to middle-nineties movies was your forte, defintitely give Putois a listen. The haunting echoing that is a common thread through these track coupled with the care in which tracks are created make this into a hell of an album.

Top Tracks: Timekeepers, Our Stand

Rating: 6.8/10

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