Little hearts, little heads
E. A Solinas | MD USA | 08/12/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Asthmatic Kitty label tends to focus on pop music that is usually religiously tinged and rather upbeat, or sometimes just meditative (a la Sufjan Stevens).
Shapes and Sizes is a somewhat different sound -- more serious, less perky. But it also has what you expect from an Asthmatic Kitty band -- oddball lyrics, melodious pop music, and little experimental flourishes to keep it from ever being boring. It could use a bit more humor, though.
It opens with some strummy guitar and handclaps, in a meditative little song that seems to just wander after itself in circle. "Spent nine long years/upon an island/have you scavenged for food/whenever we got hungry..."
Then suddenly it switches into bombastic melody-pop overflowing with mellotron, before changing again into a solid, upbeat little powerpop melody, about how "I like eating fruit off of trees/when I'm with you/fruits always taste much sweeter/and air always tastes much cleaner/when I'm with you!" Three songs in one. Not bad.
After that, they try out different kinds of melodic, experimental pop-rock -- fuzz rockers that turn into jazz, rollicking carnie songs, sputtering little melodies, choral pop, and ambient-sounding bittersweet pop. If Shapes and Sizes's self titled debut has a flaw, it's that it is all so over the map and tries out so many disparate sounds, which are loosely tied together.
It takes a little while to really "get into" Shapes and Sizes' sound, if nothing else because it takes awhile to decipher all the little musical touches. What's more, don't expect more psychfolk -- Shapes and Sizes sounds more like tap-pop band Tilly and the Wall than Sufjan Stevens. ("I Am Cold" even has echoes of Sigur Ros)
And they have a knack for weaving together odd little melodies -- guitar and a bit of fuzz bass take the center stage, but they can also switch over to shimmery synth, cymbals, whistles, handclaps and some languorous horns and bits of shimmery mellotron. They sound a wee bit bland when they have mainly guitar, while their more colourful songs are their strong point.
Another enchanting detail is the way the three different vocalists chime in, sometimes separately and sometimes in chorus. Their lyrics are densely whimsical ("No, Susan/you can't be tribal leader"), full of preteen castaways, falling through ice ("and it was cold"), kisses, gifts, and a vibe like that of a pretend game full of colourful adventures.
More serious musically than many of Asthmatic Kitty's other bands, Shapes and Sizes still retains a bizarre innocence. Delightful."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
