Pinback - Some Voices EP
(Tree)
While this EP isn't quite as engaging as their debut album upon first listen, it
proves to be a great follow up once it plays through a few times. It's a short (16
minute), 4 song EP that has a slightly more playful feel to the music than the album
did. But the playfulness gives way to Pinback's standard downbeat pop at almost every turn. The lyrics
are darker and more powerful, so the contrast between what is being said and its
context is sometimes stark, which works really well in a Pinback sort of way.
The electronic drums on the first album were often very obviously fake (almost
sounding like a preprogrammed beat on a low end digital keyboard), and while it
didn't stop me from thinking it was among the best albums released in a long time, I
would have preferred that they were either real drums, or were just done more
tastefully. And, as if they cared what I thought, on this EP they have done just
that. Almost all of the drums sound real (they do have a drummer now, Tom Zinser,
also from Three Mile Pilot), which makes the songs sound much better.
The main progression Pinback has made with these songs is that they no longer sound
like Rob Crow and Three Mile Pilot mixed together. There are definitely a lot of
elements of both in every song, but they are getting to have their own style
independent of their past bands.
"June" is the last song on the CD and is among Pinback's best. The music is really
downbeat and unlike the other songs, isn't playful at all. The lyrics, with Rob's
masked self questioning/loathing (for lack of a better term) and Zach's dark imagery
are easily the best Pinback lyrics yet. If "June" indicates where Pinback is headed,
I can say with all confidence that they are going to be my favorite band of all time.
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