Posted on: July 13, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

The introductory beat to “Ex-Girlfriend in a Coma” is pretty much essential to understanding the full appeal of “Songs About Music”. While the vocals provide a little more of the spontaneity, the instrumental blueprint is much more functional and formal. What results is something that resembles slightly Temper Temper and the shoegazer pop of the early nineties. The vocals get into slight hints of Conor Oberst, but Coltrane Motion does well in creating their own sound off of the bat. The scratchy production that was at a minimal level during “Ex-Girlfriend in a Coma” is expanded considerably during “Twenty-Seven”. The percussion provides the base line for the sound, but the trippy, dreamy vocals provide something for individuals to really grab onto.

The “woo woo” of the backing vocals during the tracks act like a bridge between the instrumental and the vocal, which is a move that allows the track to succeed on all front. The instrumentation moves into more and more complex levels with “You Make It Easy”. While the slightly scratchy sound operates as a thread that links together the majority of tracks on “Songs About Music”, the slightly-nasal vocals really stand forth as the thing that individuals will most identify Coltrane Motion by. Each track seems to be an evolution over the past ones. For example, “You Make It Easy” smoothes out some of the rough edges of the mastering during “Twenty-Seven”, and brings Coltrane Motion back to a very early nineties type of sound. What results is a more direct allusion to the Smiths than the title “Ex-Girlfriend In A Coma” would allow.

The guitars during “You Make It Easy” really reflect, at least to me, an appreciation for the guitar work laid down by The Cure on their seminal “Disintegration”. The cheerleader –cum-fight song sound of the drums during “How To Be” will give listeners the idea that Coltrane Motion will try to move towards a more pop sound. The rest of this track shows that is exactly what they do, as the more hopeful vocals during the track reflect the “sixties pop star” mention during the track. Later tracks, such as “Can’t”, follow up on the same sound and add additional influences to the disc; the guitar work during the track are similar to Muse’s “Muscle Museum” along with the same electronic-rock sound created by God Lives Underwater and Stabbing Westward. The disc is cohesive, coherent, and provides individuals with enough material that it will take a number of listens to fully appreciate. Coltrane Motion has evolved in the two years since we last had a chance to review them.

Top Tracks: Can’t, Twenty-Seven

Rating: 7.3/10

Coltrane Motion – Songs About Music / 2007 Datawaslost / 11 Tracks / http://www.coltranemotion.com / http://www.datawaslost.net / Reviewed 17 May 2007

[JMcQ]

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