What an album title - it opens up a huge range of possibilities! And what a
pity that Polyethylene wasn't able to take advantage...
What Goes On Inside Houses is fairly straightforward hard-edged prog-pop,
with long instrumental sections that settle into a head-nodding groove,
occasionally fronted by unremarkable female vocals sung in a thin tone and
struggling for pitch control. The occasional male backing vocals don't help much
either.
There are some interesting ideas - "Thurman Wood Warmed Nights" has a small
section with Oriental sounds over a military snare drum. Unusual. "Mana Mou Ta
Kleftopoula" is mostly instrumental, with singing toward the end that actually
works rather well. A violin or a flute will wend its way through a few songs
providing welcome added textures. The 9 songs are over in 47 minutes, with most
at the 5 minute mark, and only "All In The Nucular Family" (note the deliberate
misspelling) reached towards 9 minutes. It is a simple, aggressive instrumental
piece played over distorted, recordings of political speeches. An interesting
idea supported by uninteresting instrumentals.
The guitars and drums steal most of the attention in the mix. Neither
delivers an outstanding performance, but better production might have helped
emphasize the songwriting elements and the occasional tempo shifts.
All-in-all a solid amateur effort with some good sections and reasonably
progressive songwriting ideas - but it has a way to go.
Track Listing:
1 Thurman Wood Warmed Nights
2 Relatively Minor
3 The Weather and Driving
4 Given
5 Mana Mou Ta Kleftopoula
6 Monte
7 In Spite of You
8 A Thief at the Window
9 All in the Nucular Family
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
