If you think about it, the quips "grow up" and "give up" are really no different. As music writers, we work with the aesthetic criteria we're given. As volunteer music writers, we work perhaps a little more personally than we should. But who's to say? Maybe reviewing is just this subjective mire that does little good for the world (and all the little worlds within it) when it comes down to it. Writing into a void begins to feel almost as pointless as just sitting in it and taking up that space. The function is unclear. But no matter how juvenile (or, possibly, crass) my appraisals/dismissals might come across, I'm all love and re....................
Engineers shimmers with a subtle grace, and adjectives like "autumnal" simply aren't going to get at the heart of what makes the album so special. Fall shades permeate -- sleepy resignation through a dreamy vocal chorus not unlike Elbow's. The opener, "Home," actually has the feel of a dramatic homecoming, where one of the more soul-replenishing states of exhaustion and release rush over you. What makes Engineers special is its ability to rouse your spirits without losing that lovely, drowsy feel that hangs over its gauzy tracks. The minute and a half "Peter Street" is my new favorite BoC knockoff tune. Very sweet indeed. In theory they're not lame, but due in part to the fact that Talk Talk and Cocteau Twins are not the sort of bands anyone I know would call anything else, I'm inclined to feel as much. I love Spirit of Eden, and Laid, and even the first two Sinead albums (as adult-contempo as I get). But enough about me - this album's exceptional, for as familiar and generic as it sounds, there is an autumnal sort of charm.
.....................mains -- human and fallible and urging against some significant distance. I'll explain that later. First lemme just say that I simply don't want to "grow up" because I have a lot yet to do. You grow up. I don't need your patronizing ass around anyway -- shit, man, I'm sorry. My editor should not permit me to go on like this. I appreciate the lithium he provided, but he should really get to censoring his writers. I mean, I've been listening to Polygon Window and Starfish while writing this. I mean, SHIT, man. You know? But honestly; Engineers? They're more or less a mediocre act. In some ways, it might not be far from Coldplay. If, for you, this is not a bad thing, then look no further. They're either playing a quaint game of degrees with soft rock and dreampop or they're just bland. I honestly can't tell. It's pleasant, but only subtly endearing enough for dependably inoffensive background buzz-around-the-edges music for the O.C. I don't know what it is. P-fork blurb mentions "shoegaze," and I fuckin jump.
1. Home
2. Waved On
3. New Horizons
4. Forgiveness
5. Let's Just See
6. Come In and Out of the Rain
7. Peter Street
8. Said and Done
9. Thrasher
10. How Do You Say Goodbye?
11. One in Seven
More about: Engineers
