Lakeside Project - Animal Logic EP
(Matchpale)
The Lakeside Project is a Boston-based quartet that sounds like it's still trying to find its own voice, a task made slightly more challenging when that voice is being buried beneath layers of simple melody and homemade racket. But don't misinterpret that description as an insult, for there are pleasant surprises to be found on the five-song Animal Logic EP. Opening with a canned synth beat that is as disarming as it is familiar, "Thirty Year Waiting List" is a subtle charmer with backwards effects melding nicely with a basic guitar line before opening up into a gracefully descending melody. The song comes across as perhaps attempting some kind of majesty, but the lilting strains are not entirely unsuccessful, commanding a degree of attention with effortless grace. "Hutchison Effect" might be a highlight, an extended eight-minute walk through several stages of noise that subside and reemerge with renewed vigor, shifting and turning, breaking down before starting up again. This best effort comes across as accidental, which may be a subtle strongpoint. "Sewing Machine" threatens to be an unmemorable stab at overwrought emo(tion), with faux strings pushing the vocals to the forefront, but it is marked by a crafty outro that saves the listener from total discontent. A burst of uncontained squelch opens the ramble shamble of "Sick So Pretty," with picks being scraped over wound strings as a tom beat carries several theremin-like gurgles and belches, providing a combination that works very well indeed. The EP closes with "Bear Attack," another tune that builds and falls in predictable places yet doesn't come across as contrived or insincere. A sample of children laughing bookends the track, and when it ends seemingly on cue, there is a tendency to hit play again just to see if the songs were as good as the memory of them. There are treats to be found on this EP, and hopefully the Lakeside Project will continue to evolve, as they show promise in their careful blend of control and chaos.
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