While They Slept

Parade The Circus Around The Silhouette (2003)

Jordan Rogowski

I was just browsing through Level Planes immense cd catalog, and came upon a decent sounding record. The description given was this:

Great full-length from this Minneapolis quintet that plays melancholy, brooding hardcore/indie that brings to mind The One AM Radio, Still Life, Hoover and the oppressive beauty of a midwestern winter.

Not bad company.

Now usually, Level Plane is good to do business with, and tend not to embellish things as a press release description, or other such things might. I've found some good things on impulse buys (Some Tree, The Iceburn Collective, Tristeza) so I gave this a shot.

Good choice.

The description stays accurate through the duration of the record. But let me first put out there that the record is nothing groundbreaking nor original in any right. But what's done is done well. The vocals sounds like they could belong to either Tim Kasher of Cursive/The Good Life, or possibly that of the lead singer for Hot Water Music. The lyrics strain with desparation in every word, intensifying as the song goes on. The lyrics are abstract, and at times do seem a bit disjointed. "Hands rest stable on a grange of elongated senses and guilted touch, see my arms drop and the blades outflex." If you're willing to dig and decipher for deeper meaning, that's good, but it just loses you sometimes. You find yourself thinking, "What did he just say?" Not a major problem, but just enough to notice.

What this album does better than anything is enrapture you into each and every song (all six of them). It clocks in at roughly half an hour, and during that time, you don't even realize it's progressing. You closely follow every strike of a chord, or every tap of a drum. Cellos, pianos, and violas are beautifully implemented into the music as well. The musicianship is tight throughout, never wavering. I don't have any real problems with the production, though at times one can feel the dissonant guitars overlap the vocals a bit. Nothing major.

From soothing to scathing, lulling to leaving you breathless, this album can do a lot for you, provided you give it the time of day. WTS doesn't do anything new or revolutionary, but what they've put on the table here is plenty for me.