There are two competing drives on display throughout the
Tall Firs' debut album, and they're not always well meshed. On the one hand, singing guitarists
Aaron Mullan and
Dave Mies are disciples of the disciples of
John Fahey, favoring hypnotic single-note patterns and blissful drones. On the other hand,
Mullan's day job finds him working as
Sonic Youth's guitar tech and engineer (
Tall Firs was recorded at
SY's rehearsal space and released by
Thurston Moore's vanity label) and drummer
Ryan Sawyer (formerly of an early lineup of
At the Drive-In) tends to unleash his inner
Steve Shelley around the halfway point of songs like
"The Woods," only without
Shelley's unerring taste and restraint. So a pattern emerges throughout
Tall Firs, where whispered vocals and delicate guitar tones are slowly overwhelmed by waves of feedback and, much more damagingly, lots of over-prominent and not particularly good drumming. When
Sawyer dials back several notches to something more akin to the simple
Maureen Tucker heartbeat underpinning the reverby
"Buddy/Baby," the two key elements of the
Tall Firs sound finally lock in, positioning the trio as an attractive midpoint between
Galaxie 500 and
Flying Saucer Attack. Unfortunately, those moments of
neo-psych bliss-out are frustratingly few and far between on
Tall Firs. ~ Stewart Mason
![Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Clean]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5099997855323_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Clean]")
