It's not too surprising that I had trouble reviewing the new release by Ticonderoga. On The Heilig-Levine LP, Ticonderoga uses multiple voices to really not say much of anything new or original. And with that for inspiration, it is hard to come up with a clear, concise review.
The Heilig-Levine LP plays much more like a demo than a feature CD. The songs do not flow from one to the other and the production quality varies greatly through out the effort. And since all three members of Ticonderoga handle vocals and are multi-instrumentalists, you never really get a feel for what the band sounds like.
"Fucking Around" and "Flippin Burgs" both lean to the side of Alt-Rock, with their power chords and sophomoric lyrics. "Centipede" and "Chatterton" are a kind of experimental-folk and contain some elements that break apart from the rest, but "Country Mouse", "Why Do You Suppose", and "They Can Run" are just very average rehearsal room singer-songwriter fair that made it to CD.
Ticonderoga are talented musicians that self recorded The Heilig-Levine LP without the intent to really distribute it. And unfortunately that is how it plays. A new full length release is in the works, I can't really think of a reason not to wait for it.
Track Listing
1. Fucking Around
2. Centipede
3. They Can Run
4. Snakes
5. 1
6. Poison Control
7. Flippin' Burgs
8. Why Do You Suppose?
9. Sparrow
10. 2.
11. Country Mouse
12. Town
13. Chatterton