Tommy Walter, the man behind Abandoned Pools and once in the Eels, is looking to make music stand as art once again. I say this is good and bad. Just look at what Radiohead turned out to be. Humanistic is much more melodic than that.
“The Remedy” is straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll without the lost nerve. “Start Over” works at being precious without the flowers and candy. “Mercy Kiss” is much more trite.
Humanistic has its heavy moments and those that are a little more simplistic. Simple but lovely is “Blood” while “Suburban Muse” starts off sounding experimental, but as the song progresses you see it’s the melody that matters. “Sunny Day” doesn’t seem to be the deepest song, but it’s certainly one of the most addictive.
Abandoned Pools does well for most of Humanistic. There are some tracks that seem much out of place, like “Seed” and “L.V.B.D.”. The aggressive nature doesn’t really fit Walter and you almost feel uncomfortable. Humanistic is good, not great.
+ rae gun
09.29.01
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