3 out of 5

Label: Auris Apothecary

Produced by: Joey Molinaro

An interesting but distancing release, Joey Molinaro’s Say At Last – I Who Will Forever Evil, Yet Do Forever Good is a barrage of… many things, packaged and presented unusually, which is part of its barrage. A one-man shtick, you’ll see Joey’s music billed as “acoustic thrash” or somesuch, and the instrument list is a lot of strings and keys while the liner notes namedrop Discordance Axis. That last note seems the most directly relevant on opener Kayla, which is a minute-long blast a drums and indiscernible shouts, and while this continues over to followup track The Answer, you can start to discern more of Molinaro’s core sound, which relies on very accessible hooks and song structures, just played very fast and thrashy. But when you extend that to 6, 7-minute songs, it starts to feel a bit different; when vocals go through brief moments of singing and death metal growls and punky shouts, other references may come to mind – this is a bit of screamo; there’s a bit of Ruins-esque skronk here, especially on the doomy chanting of Simon the Vain – and that the main layer of music is mostly strings, you’ll probably start thinking of other loud acts that have that element, even if they seem far afield (like Dave Matthews Band! …Kidding. But I hope Matthews is a fan.).

Because, to clarify again, the music itself, separated from the genres at play, is pretty catchy. But then you factor in the extended runtimes, which sometimes feel like cycling vignettes instead of single songs, and Molinaro’s undeniably enthused but maybe distracting bleating – surely fun live, but less-so on album – and a washed out recording, and “Say At Last” begins to resemble a ‘concept,’ or temp tracks for something more official, and less something that feels like a fleshed out album. (Although admittedly the album takes much more shape over repeated listens.)

Molinaro provides some detailed liner notes for each song that suggests how much thought goes into these, although that same studied approach might not push one away from considering this as art rock. But it had the effect of encouraging me to listen more deeply than I might otherwise have, and that helped see past considering the acoustic thrash thing as simple shtick, and appreciate the music.