Posted on: August 21, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Make Believe elicit a different spirit for each of their tracks on “Shock of Being”. They start off their tribute by emulating Nirvana heavily on “Amscaredica”, while “His Short Quip When Eddie’s Bothered” looks to the weird gait of acts like Primus. There is really no connection beyond the masters of oddness during “His Short Quip”, as there are so many things happening at any one given second during the trip. The overall sound of the track is versed heavily in the raucous rock of the seventies, and this sound continues in much of the same way during “Say What You Mean”.

However, on “Say What You Mean” Make Believe really create a different form of harmony out of their seemingly off-the-way arrangements. Much more sedate in sound than any previous track, the instrumentally-opening “Say What You Mean” takes some of the energy of seventies power rock (in the Mick Jagger-like sound of Tim during the track). What results is something that walks to its own beat, no matter how one categorizes it. This is evidenced by the fact that Tim’s vocals more than once move into a non-instrumental mode more than once on “Say What You Mean”, while the arrangements keep a fairly solid grasp on a general sound throughout. The only derivation that one can hear during the track are the slight moves into a Paul Westerberg type of vocal style by Tim, which is so revolutionary as to really recontextualize the entire sound of Make Believe. What may be most exciting for listeners of “Shock of Being” is the fact that Make Believe create a cohesive sound in what is really a dense and hard to get type of sound; there is not present the same type of pandering to traditional forms that befall many a promising CD.

This density of tracks allow different individuals to take completely different things from each song on “Shock of Being”; one just need to listen to “Fumio Nambata Had A Farm” to hear the post-punk previously mentioned (The Replacement, Husker Du), the brooding metal of a Queens of the Stone Age or Tool, or even Make Believe’s relation to noise (albeit by creating a style that slows down the typical noise track to show listeners each line that goes into the track). Never one to rest on their laurels, Make Believe have create an album that is as spastic and diverse as the influences that must have influenced it.

Top Tracks: His Short Quip When Eddie’s Bothered, Fumio Nambata Had A Farm

Rating: 6.5/10

Make Believe – Shock of Being / 2005 Flameshovel / 13 Tracks / http://www.flameshovel.com / Reviewed 15 November 2005

[JMcQ]

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