3 out of 5

Label: VHF / Landspeed

Producer: Frances Gumm

What if Pavement had continued down its rough and tumble rock ways without being split between Mark Ibold’s hopes to be relevant or Malkmus’ need to be clever?  Okay, now what if Pavement’s initial rough and tumble rock ways (we’re talking ‘Westing’ here) had actually been enjoyable?  What if I wasn’t informed enough to be making these comparisons to Pavement?  …And there you have Frances Gumm, a band that allmusic seems to describe as being incredibly underground relevant but they’re as new to me as every group / ensemble I listen to on VHF.  Not that this means anything either, except that we know my awareness of a band is what determines their success.

‘Cruella’ is definitely more in line with VHF’s early noise-rock output vs. the drone / folk / psych / Matthew Bower stuff of their latter and recent years, though the album is still surprisingly accessible: discernible riffs and song structure, choruses.  Frances Gumm is punk rock shumbled through the same lo-fi clatter that produced Pavement and its offshoots, though certainly rooted more in letting a guitar riff or bass groove ring out than lyrical dancing.  Which isn’t to say that the lyrics are toss-offs: Nietzsche references and word-plays, some nicely cynical anthemic shouts, such as on opener ‘i will not be destroyed.’  It is, perhaps, an ideal blend of depth and feedback – there’s not a moment that’s not rocking out in some way, nor a line or song that doesn’t seem worth tuning in to hear what’s being said.  However, after giving the disc countless spins, I’m hard pressed to discern between songs at any given moment.  The opener is easy to pick out because it’s the opener, but the format tends to wash together thereafter.  To be fair, a lot of college-esque rock has a similar effect on me.  The difference here is that most of that stuff (Sonic Youth) bores me to poo (yes, this actually happens), but I didn’t mind continuing to come back to ‘Cruella’ to see if it would shape into something more distinctive.  No – it’s still 30+ minutes of wandering rock, but it never became annoying or uninteresting, and when those flashes of recognition emerge – bass intro on ‘try,’ the buildup of ‘tundra’ – I can appreciate how, if this was your local band, they would be completely underground relevant.