Brown Shoe
"The Wheat Patch" CD
self-released
Genres: indie rock, indie pop
November 2006 |
A bland name for a band, a bland name for an album,
and a somewhat bland type of music. Brown Shoe are an inoffensive
atmospheric rock band listing bands like Mogwai, Yume Bitsu,
and The Doves as their kinfolk. This record seems to suffer
from a lack of direction in song structure and mediocre production.
The singer's got the chops but they aren't really put to good use on
moaning background songs like "Traveling" and "Postcards". I admire
BS's (ha ha) attempt to make something different of this record but they need
to make their melodies more obvious and make their compositions more
pointed. With that said, there are certainly good elements on The
Wheat Patch, including the deep hooks of "Northern Lights" and the
relaxed vibe of "High Strung", but the main problem I'm noticing is
the songs' tendency to warble and drone along without enough rhythmic
and structural solidity. If they can tighten things up, Brown Shoe
will have something; for now they seem to teeter too much between
straightforward rock and drone rock, becoming stagnant in their
indecisiveness.
guyspace
66%
Fun Fact: According to
their press release, I've "never heard a band like Brown Shoe."
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 12 tracks
distributed by
CD Baby,
released 2006] |