There's lots of potential on display in this album. Anti have their wonderful sound locked in, and I could get lost in it for hours. The problem is that they just won't let me.
The first thing I noticed about The Insignificance of Life is that it's short. Under thirty minutes to be more specific. How am I supposed to get lost in this wonderful sound when the song fades out just as I start becoming entranced by it? Song intro, excellent sound that I love, fade out. So many fade outs that it's a problem. So many fade outs that I audibly groaned as yet another one started happening.
But I could deal with that. Not all musicians write as we want them to, and if they want to choose a shorter track length then that's their artistic decision. I'm sure they had their reasons.
But I don't know what their reasons were for the percussion. I loved the drum sounds and how they fit into the music, but after ten minutes of listening I realized that the musicianship itself of the drumming was...not good. There were sections where the percussion didn't fit the music at all, and most of all they were repetitive and actually took away from the song. I found myself wishing that I was listening to a rough cut from the studio, just so I would have the hope that these weren't the final drum tracks.
The Insignificance of Life is a gem of an album locked inside a cage. You can see what's inside; you can reach through the bars and touch it; you can feel how wonderful it would be if it were free, but it's not. And you just have to live with that. |
