2 out of 5

Label: Bar/None Records

Produced by: Brian Deck, Brad Wood, Shrimp Boat

I think I keep switching the order of the label / producer nods up there, don’t I?  Hm.

It’s been well established by now that I have no taste, lack reviewing credibility, and give props to shitty music.  Why rock that boat, eh?  So Shrimp Boat can eat it.

If you know my music predilections, the reason I bought this disc are obvious: Brian Deck and Brad Wood production?  Indeed, I tracked this down via the logic that great producers were / are part of great bands (Barkmarket, Paper Chase), and Brad Wood was in SB.  Must be worth a go.  And it is.  The record does sound great, very rich and boppy and crisp, and  the relentlessly chipper folky strumming / drumming that opens up Duende – intro track Back to the Ukraine, leading into Jig Jing – are toe-tapping wonders, stripping away all the fuzz and depression of Deck’s Red Red Meat while maintaining its rollicking backbone,  and supporting it with Wood’s great pop-rock sensibilities.  Sam Prekop’s uniquely off-kilter singsong talk is also given a good home, carried along by the pleasantly jaunty tune.

Next track Sad Banjo maintains the formula but slows it down a bit, but then its on I Swear, Happy Days Are Mine – the following track – that the album comes to a grinding halt for me.  Because it’s almost the exact same goddamned tune as Jing Jing.  And Prekop hits the exact same vocal arrangements.  Repeat from there on out – for the 12 remaining tracks – save one awesome free-jazz exploration o  closer Tartar’s Mark.  When I first listened to the album, it wasn’t that offensive, just something like a black hole: I’d tap my toe to the opening, and then zone out for the rest.  Later, I’d wake up, naked and bored but with a vague memory of that one tune, and think of it as an okay disc.  Only upon forced analysis do I realize how much of Duende is repetition, and how annoying that one tune is when extended to a full album.

But: this is more Prekop’s band , and I’m not a Sea and Cake fan,  so I’d think that if your NPR-tuned ears love an hour’s worth of silly, folky, bop, you might appreciate Shrimp Boat’s place in the grand Chicago scheme much more than I.  What’s unfortunate (for those with similar tolerances to mine own)  is that there’s certainly a wealth of talent here, and the group is an interesting crossroads that would lead to various other projects and styles, allowing them to bottle a particularly unique sound.  I just can’t figure out what they did with that sound beyond write one pretty great tune.