REVIEW: Shudder To Think, Pony Express Record (Epic)

- Martin Bate

Let me try and explain Shudder To Think to you.....

OK, imagine REM jamming with Julee Cruise and discovering the pleasures of structuring their basic guitar-rock like freeform jazz. What happens is that for the first maybe 10 listens all the bits of the songs seem to be falling against each other and creating all these impossible angles. Then, every now and again, everything clicks and there's these beautiful melodies which just soar...only for the rug to be pulled from under your feet seconds later, leaving you dizzy and disoriented. These thrills become addictive and after repeated listens you learn where to expect the twists and turns and everything comes into focus. You realize you're in love with the songs and spend days wondering why all bands can't be like this.

Singer Craig Wedren and his lyrics are equal part falsetto angel and chilling cool. He sings about love and everyday people in dark situations with a cut-up lyrical style that seems nonsensical until you stare at the words for a while, then like the music, you can almost feel the stories shimmer into focus and your imagination starts to fill in all the bits he's not mentioning,

In comparison with their previous albums on Fugazi's indie label Dischord, the sound here is drier and even *more* obtuse than before. The crisp production just serves to enhance the feeling of displacement and there is *nothing* here that will have any chance of getting played on the radio more than once. Not that anyone, except maybe Epic, cares.

It's been too long since I've encountered a band that forces you to work a little for your enjoyment. My prediction is, that they'll have have a freak hit single down the line with an unrepresentative song, people will rush out and buy the album, flick through it on their CD players and sneer "This sucks" while the new converts and those who've been listening for a few years now will just smile knowingly in anticipation and press the 'PLAY' button again.

If Michael Stipe was David Lynch, REM would be Shudder To Think.