2 out of 5

Label: 5RC

Produced by: ?

I think this is one of the first times where I kinda felt like – maybe I’m too old for this.

New / variants of existing genres come and go that don’t trigger this feeling (I may not like them, but I don’t feel walled off from them), but this album is from 2004 – a couple decades past at time of this writing – when I was the type of fresh-faced youthster I’m apparently picturing as a listener, and when I can imagine this staying on my CD shelf because, like, it’s weird and quirky. And to be fair, that’s why it has stayed on my shelf for a while, but without much critical listen. Giving it that more critical go, though, I feel a bit underwhelmed by it; I think I arguably have less of an attention span now versus then, but that’s how I imagine this music appealing: if you really can’t be bothered to sit still with something for longer than a minute, which is about the runtime of any given track.

I do have albums I dig / bands I follow who apply some of The Mae Shi shtick in varying ways: short songs; constantly changing songs. Terrorbird’s offerings flit through quite a few “sounds likes” in its 40+-minute, 33 song run: Racebannon’s early blitzkrieg; some Mindless Self Indulgence-y wank; Panoply Academy’s riff-every-30-seconds approach; you could maybe cite some early Blood Brothers punk; and then there’s the kind of glitchy pop in there also – like a sugar-fed Starlight Mints. None of these references are a bad thing, and furthermore – neither is Terrorbird, really. There are, I’d say, some brilliant moments within these songs, and some really cute / clever concepts, like the way the last several tracks – all named Repetition – build on exactly that. But take note of some words I used there – flit; moments – and those may conjure what I feel holds this thing back: that it doesn’t care about the song before or the song after, save that Repetition sequence. And it’s not that there isn’t thought to the order of songs, necessarily, pairing noise with pop and etcetera, but it’s that the impression here is just individual thoughts, spray-painted over and over. Even within a song, it doesn’t feel like the first part cares about the second part. And so while interesting images start to emerge as new layers of paint are applied, it also is constantly losing context, to the extent that – dropping the metaphor – it was really hard for me to care after a few songs. Things would well up a little, I’d pay attention, and then forget my thoughts as quickly as the band veered towards some other thought.

There are catchy melodies here. And I wouldn’t fault anyone for digging this. But it’s very ephemeral; very fleeting; and I think that’s where I’m tying the “too old” sentiment into this – I’ve got so much music, I don’t know that I need something I can’t remember after it’s done playing.

The Mae Shi are a pop punk group who sometimes shout, but veer towards short, catchy melodies. Terrorbird splits that up into 33 songs with an appreciated amount of variation, but little staying power.