Matthew Tsai
10/13/08, 03:36 PM
The Fold - Stargazer EP
Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: August 26, 2008
The new electronica fashion is like SARS - no one knows how to cure it and you can only avoid it if you take elaborate precautions. Trendy Electronica's latest victim is a beloved pop/rock Tooth and Nail band by the name of The Fold. Whether the four-track Stargazer EP is merely a side project thing or an evolutionary step for the band, I'm not sure. What I am sure is the fact that while I thoroughly enjoyed The Fold's two full lengths, this EP is an unwelcome addition to their discography.
This is how The Fold falls to Trendy Electronica: Opening track "Spark Match Crush" is actually quite good, but it's deceiving mask of cool tribal beats and whispered vocals is torn apart as soon as "Good Goodnight" begins. With beats and bleeps and bloops only too reminiscent of PlayRadioPlay! or Owl City, a dull and generic powerpop melody, and lyrics like, "I've got a pocketful of reasons why I need you by my side," the song has the listener thinking "this EP can only go downhill from here." "I Know You Well" features a return to familiar The Fold territory, though the electronica grooves in the back are still jarring. The closer "Little Girl" is a refreshing (to say the least) acoustic-and-piano tune that serves to balance the EP out in terms of "good" and "bad" songs.
Praise should be given where praise is due, and The Fold should definitely be applauded for "Spark Match Crush" and "Little Girl." Seriously though, who wants to hear more conformist electronica? I say enough is enough and I say we put this fad to sleep. If this is the direction The Fold plans on taking, I think I'll retreat to a cave with my well-worn copy of This Too Shall Pass and my almost as well-worn copy of Secrets Keep You Sick and just hide out there for a while.
Hellogoodbye; PlayRadioPlay!; Owl City
myspace.com/thefold (http://www.myspace.com/thefold)
Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: August 26, 2008
The new electronica fashion is like SARS - no one knows how to cure it and you can only avoid it if you take elaborate precautions. Trendy Electronica's latest victim is a beloved pop/rock Tooth and Nail band by the name of The Fold. Whether the four-track Stargazer EP is merely a side project thing or an evolutionary step for the band, I'm not sure. What I am sure is the fact that while I thoroughly enjoyed The Fold's two full lengths, this EP is an unwelcome addition to their discography.
This is how The Fold falls to Trendy Electronica: Opening track "Spark Match Crush" is actually quite good, but it's deceiving mask of cool tribal beats and whispered vocals is torn apart as soon as "Good Goodnight" begins. With beats and bleeps and bloops only too reminiscent of PlayRadioPlay! or Owl City, a dull and generic powerpop melody, and lyrics like, "I've got a pocketful of reasons why I need you by my side," the song has the listener thinking "this EP can only go downhill from here." "I Know You Well" features a return to familiar The Fold territory, though the electronica grooves in the back are still jarring. The closer "Little Girl" is a refreshing (to say the least) acoustic-and-piano tune that serves to balance the EP out in terms of "good" and "bad" songs.
Praise should be given where praise is due, and The Fold should definitely be applauded for "Spark Match Crush" and "Little Girl." Seriously though, who wants to hear more conformist electronica? I say enough is enough and I say we put this fad to sleep. If this is the direction The Fold plans on taking, I think I'll retreat to a cave with my well-worn copy of This Too Shall Pass and my almost as well-worn copy of Secrets Keep You Sick and just hide out there for a while.
Hellogoodbye; PlayRadioPlay!; Owl City
myspace.com/thefold (http://www.myspace.com/thefold)