Feeling Left Out
Once Upon A Time (2004)
Brian Shultz
Feeling Left Out is described as a "heartfelt acoustic duo" in the press release, and I'd say that's pretty accurate. The pair plays with hearts proudly on their sleeves, and it does nothing more than get really frustrating stains in their clothes. They strum the same chords over and over again and offer nothing more than nasally, emotional, laid-back, diary scrawling of one of the lowest degrees. It's boring.
Standout moments are at quite the premium. There's a really awkward progression and vocal match-up in "Goodnight," although it eventually settles in. All of the songs end or begin with dissonant static / feedback / satellite signal feeds / fax machine dialing / Xerox noise / train braking / pattering rain / church bells ringing / brainwashing / whatever you want to call it, but all it really is is ambient filler. This would practically be an EP if not for the utterly random noises. Actually, considering the quality of the actual songs, I wouldn't really be listening to an existing CD right now if not for filler.
There's the occasional "pained background scream" thrown in for good measure too. It sounds like more of a "sure, what the hell" kind of thing than it does like it was actually a good idea, as if it added a rhythmic layer or some shit. Probably "some shit," because it describes the rest of it to a âT.'
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