Joel Peterson may want to claim that Broken Spindles’ latest record is “more No Wave than New Wave,” but don’t go straining your ears trying to find the Lydia Lunch influence. Toneless vocals and the gentle intrusion of synthesized electronic effects show ample evidence that Peterson is as content to gut a decade of bad pop music in his side project as he is in his primary bread-winner, The Faint.
In his favor, Peterson knows a thing or two about songwriting, and that keeps Kiss/Kick from being an abysmal or self-indulgent album. His songs are built around solid hooks and show enough dynamism to keep the listener from hitting the ‘next’ button, but when the album is through playing, there’s no pressing need to hit ‘play’ again.
Broken Spindles is a one-man show, augmented on-and-off by the minimalist drum-work of Javid Dabestani. The fact that Peterson is the sole member contributes to the insular feel of the album as a whole, while the fact that Kiss/Kick was put together entirely in a studio and with little outside input lends itself to a certain coldness and lack of spontaneity. These songs clearly sounded great in the creator’s head, but they never got fully fleshed out in the recording process. Indeed, some musical choices -- a retooled Devo bass line on “In the Dark,” a generous helping of Robert Smith gloom on tracks like “You’re Happy but Not for Long,” the bald-faced swiping of a Neu! synth-rhythm for “Introvert” -- inspire me to go back and listen to Peterson’s influences rather than marvel at the breadth of his musical knowledge.
The most appealing track is the aforementioned “Introvert,” perhaps because it’s the only song where Peterson’s voice edges just barely above that enthusiasm-killing drone he insists on singing in all the time. (It’s also the shortest song on the album, which bolsters my theory that the relative goodness of a pop-song is inversely proportionate to its length.) Some front men have gotten decent mileage out of a monotone singing style, but Peterson sounds as though we just happened upon him while he was in the middle of a smoke break: it prevents me from forming an attachment to the music.
Considering that Kiss/Kick is the fourth Broken Spindles release, one could safely surmise that Joel Peterson is well-pleased with his side-project. Whether it will ever get around to pleasing anyone else is a question I’m not prepared to answer in the affirmative.
1. I’ve Never Been This Afraid
2. Introvert
3. No Mind Knows Mine
4. The Moist Red Mess
5. Beat Down Break Up
6. We All Want To Fit In
7. In The Dark
8. Figure Face Pretty Boy
9. You’re Happy But Not For Long
10. The Talk