There are two competing drives on display throughout the
Tall Firs
' debut album, and they're not always well meshed. On the one hand, singing guitarists
Aaron Mullan
and
Dave Mies
are disciples of the disciples of
John Fahey
, favoring hypnotic single-note patterns and blissful drones. On the other hand,
Mullan
's day job finds him working as
Sonic Youth
's guitar tech and engineer (
was recorded at
SY
's rehearsal space and released by
Thurston Moore
's vanity label) and drummer
Ryan Sawyer
(formerly of an early lineup of
At the Drive-In
) tends to unleash his inner
Steve Shelley
around the halfway point of songs like
"The Woods,"
only without
Shelley
's unerring taste and restraint. So a pattern emerges throughout
, where whispered vocals and delicate guitar tones are slowly overwhelmed by waves of feedback and, much more damagingly, lots of over-prominent and not particularly good drumming. When
Sawyer
dials back several notches to something more akin to the simple
Maureen Tucker
heartbeat underpinning the reverby
"Buddy/Baby,"
the two key elements of the
sound finally lock in, positioning the trio as an attractive midpoint between
Galaxie 500
Flying Saucer Attack
. Unfortunately, those moments of
neo-psych
bliss-out are frustratingly few and far between on
. ~ Stewart Mason