Piebald

If It Weren’t For Venetian Blinds, It Would Be Curtains For All Of Us (Big Wheel)
by Tim Den

Yes, it’s true that Piebald‘s quirky one-liners tend to get annoying (mainly because enjoyable one-liners inject substance into their cleverness, unlike our Boston boys here), but I have to admit this album title had me in stitches. Empty silliness, but with enough spontaneity for it to work. And, much like the album title, there’s enough empty silliness in the music that makes this Piebald album, for once, work. Yes, you heard it right: this is not that bad a record. Packed with trademarke Piebald-isms like one-liners, stream-of-consciousness (read: loosely focused) lyrics, song titles that either have nothing to do with the song or are totally ignored during the lyrics, melodies that are barely cohesive, and a library of Promise Ring tempos, this record also has something that their previous efforts don’t: A sense of lightheartedness that doesn’t push its way into conceded gibberish. Chuckle-inducing lines like “All you need are kisses to start a make-out party” and “Fat and Skinny Asses” will entertain you long enough that you just might overlook the often messy song arrangements. Not that the music here is all bad – there are definitely moments where one can tire one’s ass out dancing – but those moments come and go faster than we’d like, leaving us with only mediocre indie rock. A great improvement from their earlier work; if this pace keeps up, we just might get something of real impact in the future.
(325 Huntington Ave #24 Boston, MA 02115)