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Alcoholic Faith Mission - 421 Wythe Avenue

Rating

RIYL

Sigur Ros
Mew
Anathallo

Release Date

04/24/2010

Label

PonyRec

Tracklist

1.) Theme From Soft Ice Cream Products
2.) Gently
3.) Nut in Your Eye
4.) We All Have Our Shortcomings
5.) Escapism
6.) Guilty Scared Eyes
7.) Painting Animals in Watercolors
8.) Someone Else
9.) Did You Eat?
10.) Sweet Evelyn
11.) Time

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With a very curious name and an even more interesting and inviting sound, Alcoholic Faith Mission is a blend of the beautiful, perverted, and pleasurable. Being their sophomore release, 421 Wythe Avenue brings a more well-produced and adventurous sound than what can be found on their mostly acoustic 2006 release Misery Loves Company.

Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, the band’s sound represents the atmosphere in which their music comes from, nearly frigid but also incredibly inviting as they blend their indie pop with a few electronic tweaks and spacey guitar solos. As their music can be quite captivating, they could be described as a fine mixture of Sigur Ros’ ambient grandeur and Mew’s pop sensibilities. The band seems to be all about the build up, with most songs leading to a luring crescendo. The suspense added to their more lengthy songs allows the listener to get lost for moment before coming back down to reality.

“We All Have Our Shortcomings” presents itself as a morose acoustic song, as lead singer Thorben Seireø Jensen provides his brittle falsetto. A light pounding sneaks up behind them as it leads to an ending of gang vocals proclaiming, “I’m not that sick / There is no cure to what I feel.” There is a wonderful interplay between Jensen and newcomer Kristen Permild, who provides a more soothing presence to the songs, which allows her to get away with a few devious antics.

The band shows that they have a dark sense of humor just through reading the title, but “Gently” will catch many by surprise as Permild softly sings, “Just cause I’m a whore / you know it doesn’t mean / I don’t feel it / when you fuck me / gently.” The light acoustic guitar meshing with a slow distorted drum beat gives way to a more relaxed melancholic track, but the lyrics of course tell a different story. The song adds a much needed comedic boost to the album, as the mood of most songs leans towards melancholic. Permild can come in handy as she is able to add a certain bit of spunk to the album, as she gives songs like the bass heavy “Guilty Eyes Scared” more life.

“Nut in Your Eyes” is a song to be commended for its attention to songwriting. While most of the other songs veer off into a more experimental realm, this track focuses more on the verse/chorus/bridge/chorus pattern. It is also one of the more catchy tracks as Permild and Jensen participate in a call and response styled chorus singing, “Complacent by the choices everyone is making for me / Evidently I am sinking deeper.”

While most of 421 Wythe Avenue is pretty stellar, the band is certainly still trying to figure out their kinks since some songs don’t seem to be as well crafted as others on the album. “Did You Eat?” starts off at a faster pace, as it breathes new life into the album, but unfortunately the song suddenly ends with no true warning. On the opposite end of the spectrum, “Sweet Evelyn” doesn’t seem like it wants to end, going on for nearly 11 minutes with no real action in between the beginning and the end.

Alcoholic Faith Mission is a pleasant discovery. For only being their second album, the band seems to be making headway into becoming something much bigger. As they have shown a vast improvement from their earlier release Misery Loves Company, it will be disappointing if the band is not able to build off of this release.

--Andrew Beam