Crazy Mary
Knucklehead
Humsting
New York’s Crazy Mary deliver another album of sprawling indie rock, proving their refusal to be shoehorned into any one musical genre, while still remaining strangely polite throughout this set. Their cabaret-like approach should be a surefire hit with those intrigued by outgoing lo-fi, but their shtick wears thin a bit too soon, and Knucklehead is lackluster where it should have reeked of carefree abandon; it is mannered where spontaneous joy should have dominated. Decent compositions like “Invisible” and “Brian Jones” are rendered too anemic to ever thoroughly grab the listener’s attention – the vocals lack the necessary confidence, the performances are stiff and the arrangements too often play it safe. “Let’s Have A Party” is one of the few highpoints on here: a sweet and naÃve take on banal 1960s pop as seen through the hazy eyes of avant lo-fi. But those moments are few and far between, and the joke-y “Designer Dog” (imagine Ringo Starr on a bad day) unfortunately is a far more representative track.
Crazy Mary: http://www.crazymary.com/
