Kicking off the album with a sarcastic jab at rote
songwriting seems like a dangerous move when your band
sounds faintly like a college rock shapeshifter, but
after a quick diversion into genre deconstruction,
Lazy Preacher prove a bit deeper than first impressions
might suggest.
After a joke song intro (“Same Old Song”), Lazy Preacher reheat their
own game, by sounding at once like a vintage Velvet Underground cut and a brand
new Shins B-side on “Evolve Anyway.” Plaintive vocals linger amidst
a toiling stream of acoustic guitar tinkerings and a subliminally minimal rhythm
track as the slight, but catchy chorus attacks Bible-belt evolution hardliners
with the refrain, “The truth is plain as day / We evolve anyway.” Twee
guitars and sing-songy verses abound, making for an American counterpoint to
Sub Pop’s acid folk funkateers Jennifer Gentle.
While the consistently
faint and ubiquitous acoustic guitars do at times try the patience on an album
that plays a few of its notes a bit too often, moments of originality continually
bob to the surface to ignite excitement: be it a swirling pan flute, a raga guest
attack (by someone named Mr. Ganjahmon no less) or a burst of Flaming Lips-style
absurdism (“My jesus smoking cocaine”) on “Circling Babble
Hurts.” By the time Lazy Preacher lurches into a hill-billy slash-and-burn
cover of the Sex Pistols “Pretty Vacant” its obvious nothing is
sacred and everything is set to implode. In a good way.
Favorite Track: “Evolve Anyway”
