Frog Eyes – Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph
April 27th, 2010
Dead Oceans
Score: 6.9
Following in the steps of fellow Swan Lake member Spencer Krug, Carey Mercer finally steps out from behind his inscrutable walls on the fifth Frog Eyes full-length. The twisted groove of ‘Rebel Horns’ is as peppy and buoyant as the band has ever been, yet the grit of previous material hasn’t been forsaken; it’s been focused and employed in far more dynamic fashion. The psychedelia, the high drama, they’re no longer disorienting, rather they play an integral role in the fresh sense of journey Mercer presents on Paul’s Tomb. Glimmers of light seep through these 9 tracks and guide them from start to finish as restless growls are met with crunchy guitars rocketing toward the sky on the titanic opener ‘A Flower In A Glove’. Now that the welter of cacophony has been pared down to bare essentials — this has been dubbed the outfit’s guitar album — melodies actually reach the surface and register with a fair deal of brio. There’s even a spacious instrumental (‘Lear, In The Park’) to add to the record’s deft pacing, the pause required to catch our breath before diving back into these dense seas. ‘Lear In Love’ for its part bottles Frog Eyes’ revised essence, the pseudo-punk abrasiveness commanding our attention from the get-go, then balancing this bombast with a turn for the sinuous as newcomer Megan Boddy’s bewitching harmonies generate a debased albeit wholly infectious bridge. “She’s alright” indeed. Mercer remains downright vicious throughout, standing up to an oppressive force as a one-man army — he likes his odds too. We believe him when he notes “the enemy shakes” on ‘Odetta’s War’ as his performance is wildly belligerent, it’s indignant…sadly, it’s also overlong. ‘Styled By Dr. Roberts’ suffers from a similar flaw, stretching out for what feels like an eternity. Ravenous wails can only carry a track so far and the lengthier entries on Paul’s Tomb don’t manage to maintain the steam developed right out of the gate. Many of Frog Eyes’ knots come untangled on LP #5, and the broader plains appear to confound the Canadian rockers at times. Where Carey Mercer’s work has long sat on the suffocating side of the scale, on his latest, a little too much air bleeds into the proceedings.
Vinh Cao