Echo Group is
an unexpected blip on the otherwise excellent Seksound discography.
Lack of Eoins haven't created a full-out sinker here, but I
find this disc lacks the immediacy and atmosphere seen on the
Estonian label's other records. These eleven tracks explore the
indie rock terrain pioneered by Archers of Loaf,
Superchunk, Silkworm, and Minus the Bear. Their songs show impressive
scope, cleverly toying with rhythmic and melodic convolutions;
however, the delivery is sometimes off. Consider opener "Sonics" -
it's got a neat melody, and merges math-rock and pop sensibility
admirably - but the performance lacks punch; the vocals need more
force, and the instrumentation and production would benefit from being
much tighter.
What's unfortunate
is that I really dig what Lack of Eoins is attempting here.
They have a unique sound that harkens back to nineties indie rock,
and their songs have clear hooks, even if they aren't executed all
that convincingly. Heck, several of these songs work out fairly well
- spacey "Practice Makes Perfect" has a nice sense of expansiveness,
while "I've Got Some Numbers" (see video below) is sufficiently
momentous, if a tad long. Still, there's an undeniable sense that
this record could have beenso much better had the production
been more polished. I'll be keeping an eye on these folks - they've
got the ingenuity down, but perhaps time will roll out their sore
spots.
