An unfocused but volatile sophomore album,
Calvin Krime
's
You're Feeling So Attractive
is a fractured continuation of the band's cranky
noise pop
, with the addition of keyboards and violin fleshing out the sound. The record would prove to be their final LP, and not surprisingly, as the band's songwriters,
Jon Kelson
and
Sean Tillman
, were obviously drifting apart musically --
Kelson
back towards screaming noise, and
Tillman
leaning into the
pop
that would become his calling card as
Sean Na Na
. Occasionally on
Attractive
the weight of adolescent drama weighs down
CK
's limber
punk
frame, but more often than not the band seems to be laughing behind everyone's backs. Especially on tracks like
"Oh My Goth!,"
a silly but disconcerting synthesizer bit that consists of one communally chanted lyric: "I'm dead/you're dead/we're dead/we're dead!" Unfortunately,
's darkly funny teenage sarcasm was a bit too short-lived to graduate from the hit-or-miss state it's suspended in here.
is an interesting record that tinkers with the DNA of
post-punk
synth pop
, but the band's idea process was still gestating, leaving behind a confusing record pocked with superfluous
instrumental
interludes and a general sense that business has been left unfinished. ~ Bryan Carroll