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By RYAN MAVITY
I’m about to do something that I think no other critic has ever done. I’m going to admit that, quite frankly, I have no clue how to review M(US)IC by Damiera. I tried, dear reader, really I did. But, ultimately, I found myself wearing the same face I used to make when I was took statistics in college.
Don’t get me wrong, the album is not bad, in any traditional sense. I guess the problem is that it’s not great either. For me, emotionally at least, it was just sort of, I don’t know, there. As hard as I tried to get into the album, it still held me at arms length.
As I said, there is some stuff to like here. The first three tracks, “Immure,” “Lessons” and the title track have an upbeat, jangly pop sound. Here, Damiera sounds like Europop bands like Bloc Party or The International Noise Conspiracy but with more of an American rock edge, particularly on the title track. This is the sort of music that was called “college rock” back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Singer/guitarist Dave Raymond has an appealing voice with a quivering emotional quality to it. Behind him, the band combines intricate guitar work with a deep bass groove.
But around the halfway point, the album starts to feel familiar. “Ember Eason” varies things up a little bit, but for the rest of the album, I kept waiting for the band to take the next step. It never happened, at least not for me. “Departure” offers an interesting direction, sounding like cocktail jazz on acid, but it serves more as a bridge to the next song, “Flora:Yield,” which continues in the same vein as the rest of the record.
So what are with left with? An album that reaches for the stars and doesn’t quite grab it. This is a sound that has some appeal; college students and fans of art-pop will like it. This sort of music may be for a certain listener, which I appear not to be. My opinion though, is this: If Bill Simmons were writing this review he would call M(US)IC the Freddie Prinze Jr. of albums; it brings nothing to the table and it takes nothing off the table.
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