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Kid Icarus:
The Metal West
The Metal West is Kid Icarus's third full-length album, taking their home-recorded sound and adding some studio twists. The album starts strong, with Beekeepers on the End of Town. Sounding somewhat like the Pixies with Bob Mould on vocals, or a lo-fi Foo Fighters demo tape that aggressive, scratchy romance: with you here the stinging never seems so bad. However, this commercial sound is more the exception than the rule. Only this track, Perils of Dating in 1899 (which would make a great live opening number), and album favorite Marlowes Blues, give that retro mid-90's pop sound an electric edge. Uneven and sludgy acoustics make these modern tracks sound more like demos, but the yearning chorus and strong verse structures make the sound quality seem like a choice reminiscent of lo-fi geniuses like Beck or Malkmus. 700 Angry Ghosts is a goofy misstep of a cosmic instrumental although the ending is quite good while the title track uses its pensive, lonely Yo La Tengo feedback to great effect, with layers of guitar and harmonica contributing to a delicately-constructed and powerful power-pop lament. A Retail Hell is a Mike Doughty kind of tune, of that stripped-down punk-band-goes-acoustic school, whose Elliot Smith conceits and harmonies make it one of the best songs on the album. My Anthracite Headache, which begins as a home-recorded, repetitive time-waster becomes something altogether different at the one-minute mark: a big-sound, portentous and clever meditation on relationships. Finally, The Murderess, Field Song And Record, and Her Song For Beth And The Sideshow form a beautiful, meditative triptych of pain and loss taking the Cure's tricks and making them new again, and recapitulating the foregoing album so effectively that the listener feels almost as though he's been prepared by what came before. "Song for Beth" is a rousing, large-scale ending to a pretty impressive album. One hopes for even better dynamics and studio sound on the next recording, because the musicianship and arrangements are heaven-sent and radio-ready. This band deserves attention, but the lo-fi DIY feel does not really suit the band's musical skill.
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