3 out of 5

Label: (self-released)

Produced by: Scott Seckington and Sherry Fraser

Two Ton Boa: post-rock stomp, and piano-driven singer-songwriter material – the two sides of Shelly Fraser’s band. Certain minor key melodies and a tendency to dip the tune lower on the note scale when a more “typical” song might go higher ties the sides together, but, with no offense meant to however Fraser wants to represent herself, these often feel like separate ideas. So Duets felt kind of left field when compared to the bass-heavy thwomp of Parasiticide, but as a 2-song EP, it could’ve been taken as sidestep – until 2016 album Certain Years extended the approach to full-length, but we didn’t know that at the time. (And to be fair, this was a good 5 years after that thwomping.)

As a sidestep, though, it’s interesting. Fraser’s lyrics on the gentle Time to Say Goodnight are more open and imagery based than the direct commentary found on the preceding album, and the piano (Scott Seckington) follows the vocals at a playful, observing distance, given resonance by the production. The song feels somewhat lacking of a conclusion, but it’s a haunting melody, and definitely has the same general mood as Parasiticide, if less direct. A-side Sorrows Gone is a stranger beast: an 8-minute dirge-y drone of hovering focals and fuzzy organ, played slow. It’s not quite overwhelming or sonorous enough to satisfy for either of those mentioned genres, but it’s not peaceful, either. It’s… repetitive. It goes on too long. But let’s assume it was a feeling that needed a place, and this 2-song set is a way to try that out. Fleshed out as a fuller idea on an album, it’d be more compelling; here, it’s more of a curio to a more accessible B-side.