Triathalon ; "Funeral Music"

This band's fourth album finds them ambitiously writing music they would want to be played at their funeral. This is the kind of melancholic endeavor I am going to listen to. The first track, finds more people doing drugs at their funeral than I would expect as it's a highly trippy veil of amabiance coating what would be bedroom-pop in any other equation. Kids these days are into this sort of thing. "Chey' does not depart from what they started on the previous song, the guitar sounds almost looped in how it repeats the phrases as the vocals drift in the background. The drums have a minimal beat that keeps the pulse. 

On "Down" a distorted guitar echoes from the back of the mix until the verse drops down into something more straightforward thought still coated in effects, as they ride the line between shoe gaze and pop. Seems an odd choice for a funeral. "Rip" is more clearly shoe-gaze, which is a sound I would like to hear them lean into more, even when their more pop-minded take on the genre is still too depressive to transition them to dream-pop. They go into a more strummed section before taking the more sonic dynamic shift. They have their wits about them when it comes to songwriting. 

A quaint organ sound opens the down-tempo psychedelic funk that they toy with as the narcotic coo of the vocals bubbles up from under the guitars. This is more of a get stoned and take a nap song than a funeral banger. It reminds me of Elliot Smith at times. "Last Night' is more hopeful and seems to stray from the funeral theme, They should switch the way they produce the vocals as an entire album with the vocals presented in this manner causing all the songs song the same despite the good ideas they are presenting. "See You Smile' circles the same pool of ideas the previous song presented. "Melt' is an upbeat jazzy jame, that is far from a requiem. 

The effects layered over the breath vocal style presented once again on "Way Out" begin to make me think this guy can't actually sing and it's covering this up, though lyrically this song is an improvement. I begin to get a little bored with the uniformity of sound on this album at nine songs in, which is no longer than it has taken for some albums. "Salt" finds them toying with a bass, while the vocals chime in with the same languid tones dominating this album. The more electronic beat works well here. 'Jordan' might as well be Joji. "Wall" hovers back in the direction of the shoe-gaze. There is a more relaxed pop feel to "Your Eyes'' complete with auto-tune-like effects on the vocal. The last track is more of an outro. I'll give this album an 8, as the vocals are a vibe, but this makes the entire album that vibe, though this project is good at setting the relaxed pop for its high-as-hell audience. This album drops May 16th 

 

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