In the liner notes of this CD, there's an interesting story about how Emperor X's Chad Matheny and some friends tried to fly each other on giant kite-like contraptions during hurricane Francis. There is a sense of reckless adventure to the songs on display that is reminiscent of the inspiring anecdote.
There's a familiar, lost indie feel to these songs. The album art is a blatant Mark Ohe ripoff. And I got to say that, as catchy as it is, "Edgeless" is way too close to being a Superchunk song. It's truly uncanny. But there is enough variety on the release to keep it from becoming a mere early-to-mid-'90s alt-rock rehashing. Matheney's sense of sonic adventure is as intriguing as all hell, but there remains a sort of nagging drabness to some of his more snot-nosed vocals. On the opener, this delivery is augmented with a stirring string of yelped GO-GO-GO-GO-GOs that give the song its fine finish. Unfortunately, this is something straight out of the book of Tim Harrington. But, all in all, this record is more involving and intricate than anything Les Savy Fav has done. Emperor X is considerably more deserving of all the hype they get.
The rhythmic textures are always intriguingly tweaked, even on the bland, obnoxiously self-deprecating "Raytracer." The most compelling track doesn't come until about half way into the album, with the twisted electro piece, "Use Your Hands." There are some truly wretched vocal turns on this and the following track, with Matheney going well out of his range in an exercise of choked, upsetting ambience. Both tracks show the ways in which Matheny is willing to sabotage his compositions to prevent things from becoming formulaic. When Emperor X isn't screwing things up in this fashion, a sense of mediocrity enters into the picture. Their music begins to blend in with the countless quirky, bittersweet bedroom pop excursions. Too coy for their own good and competent at fitting in with a certain woeful aesthetic that is currently spearheaded by the likes of Ben Gibbard.
That said, this is a charming record, and it'd be crude and heartless of me not to recommend it to you. It's not exactly revolutionary, and the more extraordinary sounds can become eclipsed by some of the more typical, chinsy melodic choices. But what the hell, it's been a long time since something as innocuous and fun as this has made it to my stereo and in this way its tweaked sentimentality is a sound for sore ears. While I take pause in fully embracing it, I find myself flailing to understand why; and that must mean that there's someone out there who's just waiting for something like this. Check out a few of their tunes on their website, and see if that's you.
1. Right to the Rails
2. Shut Shut Up
3. The Citizens of Wichita
4. Raytracer
5. Use Your Hands
6. F-R-E-S-N-E-L Licenseur
7. Sfearion
8. Ainseley
9. Edgeless
10. Aloalocular L.A
11. Coast to Coast