Product DescriptionThe snap of a guitar string wound too tight.
The deep sproing of a rubber band con tracting and expanding.
The shouting voices of the couple who live one floor up.
These are sounds of tension. And so is this: How I Became Illustrated (SSM023), the full-length debut from Detroit, Michigan s The Word Play.
Pitched by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Kevin McGorey as a record that focuses on themes of strained relationships in modern society, How I Became Illustrated is all push and pull, give and take.
McGorey chooses to play lyrical dress-up with his take on the relationship theme, while the band s other songwriter, ax-and-voice man Ian Rapnicki employs a more straightforward approach. Their songs alternate between fitted-shirt tightness and post-Pavement guitar scrabble, McGorey and Rapnicki momentarily fleeing the pocket sewn between bassist Brent Mosser and drummer Brandon Sczomak.
Think of How I Became Illustrated as 11 sequential games of tug-of-war. Somebody always ends up in the mud, but it s never The Word Play.