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Is there anything finer than a chiming guitar? No, I don't think so. It's like warm sunshine and clear blue skies, nothing comes close. This chimes like a good 'un and from the opening bursts of One, Two you're on your way, swooping along without a care. Sounding like Yo La Tengo, Superchunk, or a more focussed Built To Spill, this Chicago trio set about taking you on a forty-nine minute joyride without a cloud in sight and with tracks called I'll Take You In My Car, The Voyage and Let's Ride Horses you can almost feel the miles flow by. Even the down-tempo PJ just feels like a pause to admire the view and get a breather before kicking into gear again, once more on its cinematic journey towards The Ender, the album's closing track, asking en-route "are you holding my hand or my heart?" and seemingly doing both. The mix of high singing and low spoken vocals, usually simultaneous, just add to the soundscape that unfolds as the tracks go by. This is no 'foot to the floor, Drivetime' music though, it's the sound of your emotions changing with the view, each scene evoking a new pleasure or pain. They even manage to get the melancholy journey's end feeling for That Does Not Make Sense, as if the sun is lowering before The Ender closes with a shimmering blaze, refusing to die before succumbing to the inevitable. When they sing Millions Can be Wrong you have to assume they mean the people who don't get this, hopefully, they'll soon have a song about a lot fewer.

Laurence Arnold
CWAS #7 - Spring 2001

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