ECHOLYN

This heavily praised album is, for me, missing the grit, life, and grist of other echolyn albums. It is a collection of homogenized skim milk. It is simple, thin, watered down prog, albeit pleasant but lacking substance, lacking warmth. It's like kissing your sister, like a fourth place finish at the Olympics, like the taste of artichoke without butter. The first song takes six and a half minutes to hook you in and then just teases you until the final two minutes (which are, I must admit, sublime). My favorite two songs, "Past Gravity" (7:10) (9/10) and "Speaking in Lampblack" (10:45) (8/10) are both pleasant, rather laid back, kind of STEELY DAN/BILLY JOEL-like mainstream-friendly compositions. The album's final two minutes of barbershop fun make me wonder if the band has any more left to give--kind of a feeling I get through this entire listening experience: life is hard, maybe it's time to die.