namelessnumberheadman
When We Leave, We Will Know Where We’ve Been
Urinine
Three guys. Many instruments. Ten songs, all great. So what’s up with the huge insecurity complex and fear of success? Why name your band after a supporting character in an obscure Steven Soderbergh movie (Schizopolis, and don’t tell me you haven’t seen it), lowercase it, and then saddle yourself with one of the worst album titles in history? Only a band that doesn’t want to become any bigger than it is would do that.
Especially when they have stuff like this. “Rest Assured” starts like alt.folk.country, but then the synths start coming in at the 1:21 mark, and before the track is half over they’ve gone all gorgeous post-rock epic. This Kansas City group can bring the techno-rock heat in a big fashion: “An Unproven Theorem” cooks, with its wailing theremin and Big Fat Drums, and then implodes halfway through to turn into a piano ballad telling us to “Let gravity have its way,” which is pretty good advice after all. And the self-help lesson of “How to Attract Love” goes nicely with the dubbed-out freakbeats and the sci-fi organ noise.
But they can also cool things down with pretty indie-boy emo tunes (“Something Said,” “Smoke And Mirrors”) and nu-wave deals like “In the Throes of Giving Up” and closer “The Pace of Sound.” Really great stuff, especially for a first album. But they’re really not going to get anywhere with a name and an album name like these. Maybe that’s what they want. But if they stay obscure, then we’ll be cooler for knowing about them. Mwah-hah-hah! *twirls mustache evilly*
namelessnumberheadman: http://www.namelessnumberheadman.com
