Wackiness.org Reviews Archive § Music

The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland was immediately my favorite character from the classic movie. It was the paradoxical lines and sly specter-like qualities that intrigued me. The cat on the album cover of Pseudosix's debut, Days of Delay, has the apparitional quality of the infamous Cheshire Cat, although, true be it that this red-eyed cat looks nothing like the grinning cartoon-y look of the other. But it did remind me of the movie. So, at this point you might be thinking the album will be an exercise in psychedelic something or other, but is in fact, a pretty straight-forward lo-fi and melodic indie rock album. I hesitate to make the obvious comparison to Neil Young in describing the soft folksy sound of Pseudosix, but because it's so damn simple I'll let it sit there. And to boot, I'll throw out Elliott Smith as another heavy influence on the sound, just because these guys are wearing it on their sleeve and probably wearing it on an XXL hoodie with enormous sized font. Blatancy, I tell you.

But, who cares who came first. Who does it best? Well, Pseudosix do a fine and decent job, if you feel we need another Songs:Ohia. And I feel we need it. Cus,' dammit, I can never get enough of the like. The album opens up with the slumber-fest "Hollow Abyss (introduction)." Which is little more than delicate lyrics, drum machine, and the occasional acoustic strum. Don't give up yet, though, because the album just grows parabolically in strength with every song until the peak in "Hazardous Movements." The song reaches a climatic upswelling when a shouting choral enters, "We came with hope/ And answers for those/ Demanding a reason/ We swore we would see to them all/ But it's over." The song is surprisingly catchy in a pop-like manner that is rare elsewhere on the album.

Tim Perry, singer/songwriter and guitarist for the trio, is very effective in penning songs of personal experience and your general life-truths of post-modern labor days in a way that doesn't feel preachy or über-melancholic. Another highlight from the disc, "Run Rebel," seems to tell a fable-esque story of the Prodigal Son. Don't get me wrong, the album is very secular or non-religious. Although, one member, Emil Snizek, works double-time in the band, Holy Sons from Portland, which sounds vaguely pious, in some manner. As a matter of fact, I have, indeed, seen the Holy Sons in concert before, but all I can remember is their name, seeing as how the show has hazily evacuated my memory in much the manner that "coffeehouse" shows oft do.

The remainder of the album often floats along in a lethargic acoustic folk template. Which is not unenjoyable, but rather inessential in the whole. But, if you're like me, and always looking for a bit o' melancholy with a flickering of romanticizing, then you might enjoy checking this disc out just for the songs I've already mentioned. And to end the disc is, "Hollow Abyss (epilogue)", which comes complete with a group clap-a-long and the presupposing refrain, "I really need it/ Oh, I really need it." And I'm thinking, maybe...maybe.

Rating

73/100

Reviewer

Jacob Daley

Published

March 06, 2004