Search - Remote Islands :: Smother Party

That question. the strength of the album

h.u.e | Washington, DC | 10/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Philadelphia-based Remote Islands disguise melody as caucophony on the stellar debut 'Smother Party'.



Lime-green and dusky-orange soundscapes unfold roller-coaster style as the 14 songs climb, glide, loop-the-loop (losing the change from their pockets on the upturn, picking it up on the downswing), and screech their way through a hands-and-feet-out-the-car 45-minute joyride.



`Smother Party' chaperones songs full of wild-abandonment-- perfect for pillowfights ('Rockaway's Burns Tonight') or drive-by eggings (`Constantly Changing'). The group isn't afraid to put something viscous and bittersweet (like raw honey with the comb still in it) on the microphone either, as in `Me and My Knife' & `Samantha's Reverie'.



But just when your ears are ready to call it "sweet", a song like `Spectre on the Nearest Hill' comes by; like a cobweb--harmless but eerie. Remote Islands crafts songs begging for an Andy Warhol gallery opening (`Faces' & `Pink Frosting'). Still at times, one is content to sit in a taxicab and wait-- for a miracle, or for the meter to run out (`The Mean Beak' & `King Elvis').



With lyrics full of irony and muse, an entire one-act play is cast in two run-on sentences: "early morning sun-why'd you rise again?-out from behind the steeple that will never ring bells that can make me look up from my TV screen-hear what I said-`cuz I wanna live on in your head."



With colorfully-haunting original artwork sparsely decorating the roughly-hewed liner notes, one is left to wonder, "Where did this album come from?" That question is the strength of the album. The only choice is to play it again and listen differently. Perhaps this time while walking up the `down' escalator, or while gargling tepid saltwater sitting under your kitchen table, or while--well, you buy `Smother Party' and decide.

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