2 out of 5

Label: Odessa

Producer: Paul Finn

This review has a lot more intelligent things to say than I do; also more positive things.  But we’re both agreed that ‘Ripped in No Time’ isn’t really all the impressive upon first listen.  However, the concept was appealing – Paul Finn and Jerry Kee’s rich production and mixing applied to a guitar trio, and the first couple tracks on ‘Ripped’ impress with a down-home rough charm, simple licks, propulsive bass and great bar-room stomp drums carrying us through some nod-able riffs that have the same kind of momentum as GBV or the slew of post-Pavement pop-rock college bands that populated Matador, T&G, Sub Pop and so on during the indie heydays of the 90s.  Nothing particularly new, but totally the kind of fun stuff that you can get addicted to, especially if the seed is planted by seeing them live, this kind of raw, warts-and-all style born for spilling beer on yourself while tapping your toe pressed up against a stage.  The lyrics are also notable, maintaining that difficult balance of non-preachy story-telling that’s direct and yet open enough to be applicable to any of us.  But post a lovely random guitar-sprawling solo in track two’s ‘Gonna Move,’ the album starts to wander, nipping at variations on a theme without successfully committing to any.  ‘Yourself, Alone’ and ‘A Last Resort’ are stripped down rock, carrying one or two riffs and lyrical concepts without evolving them much, ‘I Pray High’ sounding ripped from Manx outtakes before trying to balance out the softer touch with the aggressive ‘Unite & Sever,’ which ends up not sticking around long enough to amount to more than a sound counterpoint.  Some highlights come through – ‘Here On The Couch’ a pretty delightful laid back tune with pleasant backing vocals and a full verse-chorus-solo-verse setup slipping into a sweet moment of chaos, ‘Keep’n pace’ a pleasing instrumental ditty, and the final ‘Tune Down / Re-Tune’ is a committed dirge where the group lets the tones ring with monotone, distorted vocals.  So there’s definite evidence of good stuff here, but it’s sprinkled too lightly amongst more faceless tracks to make much of an impression.