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Thee More Shallows - Book of Bad Breaks

Rating

RIYL

Robot Ate Me
Why?
Menomena
The Flaming Lips

Tracklist

1. D. Shallow
2. Eagle Rock
3. The Dutch Fist
4. Night At The Knight School
5. Int. 1
6. Proud Turkeys
7. Int. 2
8. Fly Paper
9. Int. 3
10. Oh Yes, Another Mother
11. The White Mask
12. Chrome Caps
13. Mo Deeper

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I didn’t like this album at all when I first listened to it. It was sitting with a bunch of other stuff I needed to listen to, and my first time through it, I was thinking of other stuff I’d rather listen to. Then a handful of days later it was still the only thing I was listening to from that stack. I’m not sure why I didn’t like it my first pass through, but I guess I can chalk it up to sheer stupidity.

Thee More Shallows is a band that does a lot of different things musically on their new album, Book of Bad Breaks, and it does almost all of them really, really well. Songs are littered with random styles that some how fit together. The most glaring examples are “Int. 1” and “Proud Turkeys.” “Int. 1” starts out with some nice strings before running into a wall of fuzzed out noise as it spills over into “Proud Turkeys” before returning to the strings as it winds down. Overall, the most impressive things about the album are the drumming, percussion, and beats. The rhythms always seem to engage you and are never hackneyed as they can be on albums like this.

Lyrically this album is top notch. Normally I don’t talk about lyrics, mostly because they’re never worth talking about, but not here. Just about every song has a moment where you shake your head at the absurdity and brilliance of the words being sung. Like on “The Dutch Fist” when they sing "In Gary, Indiana when you get off the train / they’ll make you pay." I’m not sure why I like that, probably because of the mention of Gary, Indiana, seriously, who would ever mention Gary, Indiana? Pretty much all of “Fly Paper” is great, but it goes beyond greatness with "if I was a black bear I’d hibernate all through the year" and then goes even further with "I feel like Charlie Heston / riding a horse on the beach." Somewhere, Stephen Colbert is weeping.

Book of Bad Breaks does have some issues, mostly with the last handful of songs. They just simply lack the presence of the first 10 tracks. “The White Mask” never reaches a climax while toying with one for the entirety of the track. “Chrome Caps” just doesn’t fit and makes for an awkward bridge to the final track. And “Mo Deeper” can’t escape from the anchor that is “Chrome Caps.” But don’t let these quarrels with the album deter you, fine reader. Everything else about Book of Bad Breaks is brilliant. Quirky songs filled to the brim with witty lyrics and intriguing music abound. It’s by far the best thing I’ve heard in 2007.

--Craig Tamble