3 out of 5

Produced by: ?

Label: MakeBreak Records

This is really close to being something.  And there’s a Catch-22 here, because I’d like to say that minus Spencer Moody – who formed Triumph post Murder City Devils’ initial breakup – the group’s sound would really thrive, but minus Moody would just leave multi-instrumentalist Corey J. Brewer, and who knows if we would’ve gotten the same dark, restless sound without one artist being guided by or guiding the other.

…Because I’ve never liked Moody, or MCD, except maybe conceptually, and opening track Demolition Man is a very clear example of why that is: His lyrics, though admirably brusque, feel equally clumsy and sophomoric, and his acquired-taste vocals never (to my ear) sound without artifice; that is, the anger of MCD and the outsider stance of Lethargy feel like a put-on, like the kid in high school who is a goth one year and then a punk the next – identity via appearance.

Even though the vocals haze in and out on the album, that vibe seethes throughout the disc, coating the intriguingly outre instrumental layer with, yeah, pretentiousness.  There’s this amazing mash-up of post-rock and psych just out of reach, limited by a mindset that gives us song titles like ‘Sincerely, L. Cohen.’

But there’s enough promise here to keep me intrigued, and to go through occasional spurts of relistens.  I want to like this, but I never crave listening to it the way I might other acts in a similar vein.  It can’t be dismissed, certainly.  However, I’d think the dividing line for many will still be Moody.  If you liked what he did with the Devils, you’ll probably find something to latch on to here, though bear in mind this is a much more out there sound – the attempted sound of loneliness, according to Moody (though there’s that artifice again…).  If you’re like me, though, with an MCD-related shrug, maybe go check out Corey Brewer’s stuff first.