Review: A Place To Bury Strangers - Transfixiation
By Bailey Kretz, Staff Writer
[Dead Oceans; 2015]
Rating: 6/10
Key Tracks: “Straight,” “What We Don’t See,” “Love High”
Scuzzy noise rockers A Place To Bury Strangers are back with new LP Transfixiation, the ensemble’s first release since 2012’s Worship. While still drawing on its typical blend of shoegaze, psych-rock and spacey distortion, A Place To Bury Strangers expands these influences into more strictly defined songs of these genres. Every track on Transfixiation has a specific feel to it that sets itself apart from the album as a whole.
The effort’s first single, “Straight,” is the group’s best use of balance between various genres. ‘80s mumbling vocals over a mega catchy ‘90s guitar riff make this track one of the best on the record. The band dirties this sound up with Fergus & Geronimo-esque shooting sounds that bring the track into a spacey field. “Now It’s Over” is a clean song with a similar feel, featuring an unfolding atmosphere of guitars and synthesizers to fill out its sound.
A Place To Bury Strangers channels a sound not far from the latest Moon Duo releases with its muffled lyrics and psychedelic influences. This is specifically apparent on the third song, “Love High,” which makes for a great track, though it doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the album. A similar roadblock comes in with “I’m So Clean,” one of the band’s punkier tracks. The energy of this song is much higher than the majority of the LP, making it feel like it was thrown last minute into the track list.
“We’ve Come So Far” draws on an early Disappears sound with chanting lyrics, repetitive bass and straightforward drum line. About halfway through, the band makes the track its own with screeching guitars and feedback drowning out the other sounds. It makes for an interesting piece, but like most of the album fails to fully take off.
Although Transfixiation packs in a variety of sounds and different musical approaches, the album is still missing that “it” factor. Besides a few key tracks, it fails to bring anything new to the table. A variety of influences make A Place To Bury Strangers' sound ever evolving, but it seems to have fallen into a rut since 2007’s outstanding self-titled debut. The past three releases have failed to offer such a distinguished sound, and the group often seems unable to focus on a certain feel for a record.
While this allows APTBS to experiment in a variety of sounds and styles, it leaves Transfixiation like a blur of musical references and never emerges to find itself as a cohesive album. The individual songs are not the issue; the problem surfaces when they are placed next to each other. The work fails to leave listeners with something to remember outside of a few select tracks.
