3 out of 5

Label: Strange Famous Records

Producer: Dan le Sac

So my personal opinion of this album jumped around from maddeningly disappointing (2 stars) to breath-of-relief embracement (4 stars)… which means I should just give up and go middle o’ the road.  From out of the gates, ‘Repent Replenish Repeat’ seems like its going to be fucking awesome.  ‘Stunner’ is an amazing track, taking a note from Pip’s solo ‘Distraction Pieces’ and making the beat what grabs you, then upping his snark to an appropriate level and letting fly with them uncommon rhymes.  It’s relationship theme pops up here and there on RRR, which is a welcome change from his preachier proem philosophizing, though that happens here as well.  Dan le Sac is all over the song with elements stripped from Aphex’s harsher ‘Come to Daddy’ era and some heavy industrial echoes that remind me of wümpscut’s organic and yet beautifully empty thumpy-thump echoes.

But it’s a bit of first track magic.  Track 2 does stay on point, which is where my 4 star formula started to percolate.  ‘Nightbus Sleepers’ keeps the beat and lets Dan mix in some sleepy synth elements, but it still works as a notable shift away from ‘Angles’ ‘ easy beats and ‘Logic’s light-hearted techno bleeps – plus, lyrically, its how Pip works best – observer, not trying to overly moralize.  As an ode to the night and lonely neighborhoods, its an experience to which many nightbirds can relate.  It might like the single status of ‘Stunner,’ but an album’s worth of ‘Nightbus’ would keep me happy.

And then ‘Terminal.’  Well, there’s the talking, sorta’ eye-rolling poet we know.  To be fair, after a few go-rounds with the song, ‘Terminal’s not all that offensive, and maintains the album’s themes without getting too cheesy.  Dan also gives it some interesting ambient tweaks that are new to his Pip repetoire, so it admittedly sounds unique amongst their catalogue.  It’s just a bit of a shift from the first two tracks and lacks a lyrical or musical payoff to make it make sense as a third track.  And it bleeds into the disc’s middle portion, which is entirely average…  ‘Heroism’ and ‘Porter’ are good songs, the latter having a pretty nifty Alice in Wonderland couching narrative, but they feel more like the lyric/beat separation of ‘Angles’ (meaning just thoughts set to a beat instead of acting like a comprehensive song), and by this point in the duo’s career – and the album’s fairly short 35-minute runtime – we should be able to expect less filler on an album.  And while I appreciate that ‘Kickstarter’ is sort of a hype track (and a Strange Famous exclusive), I hate the modern reference (anything that dates something frustrates me a bit) and it taints the whole song as somewhat cheesy…  Thus, several spins of RRR, and I began to tune out from tracks 3-6.  Never a great indication.

‘Gold Teeth’ to the rescue.  A fuck-filled hilarious riff on status, it matches ‘Stunner’s intensity with a bit of Pip’s humor, and the poppy followup ‘Entity’ is, as with ‘Nightbus’ another encapsulation of a truly unique flavor I think this duo can achieve.

Back down to Earth on ‘Stiff Upper Lip.’  Yes, you’re angry, but as noted on ‘Distraction Pieces,’ Pip always sounds a little forced when trying to get this pissed off.  I also sense a bit of Occupy in the lyrics, which tickles that reference bias I have.  Closer ‘You Will See Me’ brings our relationship tale around full circle, the proud cousin to ‘Stunner’s cynicism, but it’s also a bit over-proud.  Maybe that’s the point.  I don’t know, ’cause I’m not very smart.

So you can see that the ride is up and down.  But I’ll admit the album works its magic pretty well – the short length helps get to the post-middle goodness quicker, and as was the case with ‘Angles’, repeat spins open up appreciation for the filler.  I think overall this is the most polished of DLS vs SP’s releases yet, and lyrically Pip is finding that sweet spot between being smart and snarky without too much of the poet sneaking in to make us roll our eyes.  But we’re still at least an album away from something great that you can spin from start to finish without almost reaching for that ‘next track’ button.  (Which will be a dated reference at some point.  So you can eat it.)