Schooner, You Forgot About Your Heart (Pox World Empire)

Posted October 17th, 2004 by admin

Schooner
You Forgot About Your Heart
Pox World Empire
By: Eric Greenwood

With a yelping aggression and a jangly indie pop flair, Schooner blasts out of the gate sounding like an odd cross between Brother Danielson and Black Francis. On "My Friend's Band", lead singer Reid Johnson sounds hopped up on speed, while his sister, keyboardist Kathryn Johnson, provides subtle and languid "ooh's" and "aah's" in the background. "Days Under Cover" quickly cuts back the pace to a creepy waltz beat, wherein Johnson croons amidst a room fool of feedback and reverb. The mood shift is staggering, but the effect is engaging and lovely.

Schooner's eight-song debut, You Forgot About Your Heart, on Pox World Empire Records, is a dizzying collection of anxious, urgent pop, languid, off-kilter ballads, and noisy, feedback-drenched hooks. "Trains And Parades" is a bouncy, mid-tempo bop, replete with prominent organs and breezy acoustic guitar. The two-chord repetitive drone of tracks like "This Machine Is Running Out" tires quickly as compared to the frantic urgency of the opener, "My Friend's Band", proving that some bands just sound better when they rock.

Tags: review