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Web Only Groove-Shipping News

March 14, 2001

Shipping News
Very soon, and in pleasant company
(Quarterstick Records)

The second full-length effort by these lo-fi geniuses clatters with endless pieces of imagery to compliment their creative progressions.

They preach about depressing goodbyes and empty carousels, among other painful everyday occurrences.

Opening up with the powerful and confusing chord progressions of “The March Song,” the album carves itself into a beautiful album focused on calmness.

The gentle tapping of the percussion on “Actual Blood” rattles as if it were recorded beneath the sea, while the single string progression is minimal enough to appreciate the emotional depth of vocalistKyle Crabtree’s words.

Parts of “Nine Bodies, Nine States” sounds similar to something veteran rockers The Jesus Lizard would do - then they turn the volume down and start over again.

There is also a strong presence of Archers of Loaf, Slint and even some guitar work similar to Don Caballero throughout this instrumental.

“Quiet Victories” and “Contents of a Landfill” are purposefully restrained, settling the listener and forcing every overlapping note and every echo to be absorbed to relax in the constant constellations of sound.

The only downfall of the record is that there isn’t one song that stands apart from the rest, which is somewhat irritating, but at the same time the album wouldn’t flow as well if there was one song that stood apart.

This album is the perfect soundtrack to an evening at the beach watching the sunset with a loved one, or for a depressing evening alone after a break-up.

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