Most of the songs on their debut Dream Machine contain so many changes that if anyone fell out of step, he'd stick out like a tranny in church. The problem is therefore one of overwriting (or is that overstepping?): Many of the songs start off crisp, straightforward and swaggering, then suddenly shift to some unexpected bridge that shatters the song's momentum — and with it, the listener's desire to remember the tune later. This approach — that a rock song's no good unless it allows the players to cram it with jagged chords and time changes — probably comes from the Graves' upbringing in the local post-hardcore, gifted-slacker-grunge scene of the '90s. As soon as they cut their ties to that and focus on the simple, great, rockin' hooks that lurk underneath the entire surface of Dream Machine, they'll emerge as the kind of gritty, blues-infused threesome that really could play a woman out of her clothes.
Comments (0)