AR: Room Noises

Eisley - Room Noises (2005)

(Cracks knuckles).

Eisley, a quasi alt-country-rock sister group, appears on first, second and third pass to produce music that is best heard from an adjacent room. Their vocals are immediate and pretty, reminiscent of Frente or maybe the country version of little-known Canadian band Immaculate Machine, and hit all kinds of syrupy sweet harmonies with regularity. But were there ever a time for the application of the concept "cloying to the point of irritating," this is it. Good but fairly nondescript pop fills this disc, and there are some tracks that utilize enough of the interesting and off-kilter so as to warrant attention. The opening lilting ballad "The Memories," the strongly country-tinged "Golly Sandra," and the closing, spare and elegant catchiness that is "Trolleywood" hit all kinds of sweet spots. But once that three-part harmony, medium high register motif is established, and they keep going back and back and back to it, it's enough to make me stab my eardrum with a chopstick.

So Eisley embodies a fundamental problem for me - it's probably entirely arbitrary and self-specific, but the resonant frequency of their voices appears to be my tolerance. As in, hearing them evokes nails on chalkboard irritation. Which is strange - if I can get over the effect, I can recognize that this is reasonably well-crafted indie-pop, pleasant stuff even, work with not a whole lot distancing it from that of someone I love, Neko Case. And I can get over it by sitting in an adjacent room instead of near the stereo. But for whatever reason, upon attention paid, their sonic patterns actively hurt my brain. I'm completely serious, the effect is lessened if I read a book across the house and just let them sit as background music, but that of course is hardly a ringing endorsement.

I know what it is - they're too immediate, too vibrant, too trebly. Part of this is probably the mixing. But if I try to be remotely objective, this is just not interesting music - it's a group that clearly has chops, is capable of sounding exceedingly pretty, but a group that has thrown together an album of for-the-most-part middling, good-but-unremarkable stuff that also happens to arbitrarily irritate me. Again, there are some highlights, but nowhere near enough to make me put this in the player any time soon.

Status: Not Recommended

Nyet's Fave: "Trolleywood"