On! Air! Library!'s style is all over the place. Their second self-titled release (which revamps two selections from their debut) is really the more proper introduction to the group. It is as assured as any spectral trance rock music being made in recent years and improves well upon its influences. There is a definite Cocteau Twins vibe at times (particularly the vocals on the rousing dream-pop anthem "Bread"), but where that group could get so airy as to lose its mystique and veer into new age, On! Air! Library! tempers their ephemeral music with plenty of percussive and atmospheric edginess.
In the adventurous vein of You Forgot It In People, this album is as much infused with good, infectious pop songs as it is with more cerebral, roomy tone experiments. "Fell to Earth" makes great use of synthetic handclaps to bridge the song from the male to the female vocals before it is assumed into the final steamroll of the song's moodily seething instrumental climax. Like on all exceptional recordings, On! Air! Library! knows when to drop the vocals and let the music swell up, allowing the listener to experience a more exploratory appreciation of the song. The drearily lovely "I95" (originally titled "Eye Ninety Five" on their debut) replaces the organ drone, skittering percussion, and free-floating feedback with a more stripped down, piano and ambience. The original is perhaps more interesting, but the emphasis on the bittersweet vocals in this version makes for a more poignant experience.
"Spaghetti Western Superstar" (similarly condensed from its earlier version) has some mopey, reflective vocals over sparse, pensive drone, likening the song to what a collaboration between Labradford and Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan might sound like. In addition to "Bread," a definite highlight of the album would be the surprisingly fierce (and maybe a reminiscent of Broken Social Scene's "Almost Crimes") and propulsive track "User28." After a subdued, dread tinged instrumental introduction, the song explodes into a wonderfully impassioned, semi-acoustic rock anthem, before dropping into a trip-hop infused third section. It's a short song, containing three interesting little pieces that work perfectly together. The editors warn against track-by-track analysis and I suppose its somewhat formulaic writing, but I'll be damned if every track on here doesn't deserve some mention. From the Arab Strap-tinged vocal delivery and the Dirty Three cello and electric strumming (also blurred, indistinguishable voices -- a running motif on the album) of "Sad Sad Zoo" to the downright assaulting electro-punk of "Bambalance," it has to be said that On! Air! Library! has worked overtime to leave out the filler. The album closer is perhaps the most subdued and unaffecting, but its earnestly wistful, Spinanes-like hook pulls you in regardless.
It's not quite revolutionary, but On! Air! Library! is easily among the best of 2004 so far. There's no doubt in my mind that, if left to their devices, On! Air! Library! will take what is already an enjoyable pastiche and refine it into something so singular and essential that I will no longer be able to use other bands to describe it. Till then, don't miss this recording. Like Glifted's debut album, this is an unassuming enough LP that it could easily miss the bulk of its much deserved audience. And albums of this caliber just don't come around that often.
1. Faultered Ego
2. Fell to Earth
3. Bread
4. I95
5. Spaghetti Western Superstar
6. User28
7. Bambalance
8. Sad Sad Zoo
9. Feb.
More about: On! Air! Library!
