Grey Does Matter creates eccentric curves, which give the tunes for their second album Your Job Will Kill You a crackling electro-pop paneling. The album proceeds where their debut LP How To Make Millions In Real Estate and their EP Rock Delivery System left off. The lead vocals of guitarist and synth player Jason Crawford have a lo-fi pitch while his playing speckles the tunes with a sheen of glitter. There is a Missing Persons-like haphazard doodling in the electronic ambience, especially in songs like "Wholesale" and "Already All Ready." The artistic panache of their arrangements makes them paradoxically unique, and yet, ordinary in their musical class of electro-pop demonstrators like The Faint and The French Kicks. In addition, the band creates a musical world similar to '80s synth pop icons like Split Enz and Haircut 100, while adding a modern touch like that of Ambulance LTD. Or The Stills.

The rhythm section of bassist Amos and drummer Jon Webber approach with subtlety and undertone the vaunting electro-show peeps sparkling in the movements. The ballad "Gatehouse" is the standout track, with ghostly progressions and gently moving vocals. The glittering electro-pop inlays are omitted from this track giving it a clean sweep. As unadorned as this number is, it gives the album a sense of purity, an understated beauty. The garnishments and embellishments on songs like "Unlimited Fun Shine" and "Rake Your Leaves" are eclectically conditioned, but make art for the sake of art, which causes the work to be emotionally unpersuasive.

Grey Does Matter challenge their own talent on their second album, but ultimately reveals itself as an album that becomes humdrum—all except for "Gatehouse," which has an intangible quality that is soulfully pleasing, with very little there.

Similar Albums:
The Stills - Without Feathers
Ambulance LTD - New England
The French Kicks - Two Thousand

Susan Frances
12.08.2006