2 out of 5

Label: Overcoat

Producer: Brian Paulson

So besides getting off to an awesomely dour start with the title track, where we have time changes and a riff that actually breaks into the foreground, ‘Down’ is another hazy Manx album, continuing the folkyness of the previous album but sharpening the lyrics a bit, no longer relying on repeated phrases to carry us through dreamy 3-5 minute strum-a-longs.  While the band carried a bit of a wry smirk to its style – copping sadness in the slowcore nature of the songs but swirling it into sarcasm or cynicism via vague lyrics delivered amidst harmonizing voices – that notable start, the drearily colored artwork, plus a more defined song-to-song approach (I feel a definite flow here, whereas on self-titled the album just passed by on a general haze) – seem to hint at the band’s shaping up into a more defined entity, perhaps due to Chicago scenester Brian Paulson’s guiding hands, perhaps just general growth, probably both.

Still, it’s not quite sad enough to make an impact, and it’s not quite sharp enough to win me over, and I definitely get sleepy somewhere in the middle… which I can’t believe is the desired effect.  Two stars isn’t kind – same goes for the two star rating I gave album one – but sensing how much skill is here, the first two Manx albums feel more like pretending to write these tracks than actually feeling them.  That being said, as I noted for the self-titled album review, I accept that this style ain’t exactly something I normally go for, but that being said, the Manx have put out an equal amount (and more) of albums after this that are infinitely better, so listening to them all in a bundle, these early two seem incredibly simple in comparison.