Review - QuarterAcreLifestyle – Blood on the Lawn
By Dustin Luke Nelson
Atmospheric washes, corn syrup thick bass lines, and dark metallic dance beats rule on QuarterAcreLifestyle’s Blood on the Lawn. Recorded in Minneapolis in late 2007 the album is an international effort. Led by Kiwi-brothers Aaron and Cameron Pollack, with Cameron still residing in New Zealand the band has a few recording obstacles to oversome. Nonetheless, they have pulled together a second album that leaves an impression.
The album opens with an instrumental track, metallic dance beats coupled with grinding muted guitars slowly build until they converge with Radiohead-esque washes of atmosphere and a beat tottering bass. This is where the Pollack brothers shine: cloudy dance beats that fall somewhere between Portishead and Nine Inch Nails, big guitar lines and a thick walking bass. Unfortunately these moments are few on Blood on the Lawn.
Oddly, as the album progresses, these songs even begin to feel slightly out of place. The opener is followed by “Yeah Nah,” which seems to more strongly characterize QuarterAcreLifestyle’s songs, dynamic compositions, pop melodies melding with dark beats. But it seems that QuarterAcreLifestyle may be trying to do too many things at once. The songs rarely feel as though they have completely gelled. Often becoming an odd assemblage of styles with only vocalist Kristin Brown’s voice lacing the song into one piece.
The album has its strong moments, the beats and orchestration are often exceptional, but the album never comes together. The construction of the songs more often than not feels like a collage of passing thoughts punctuated by trite lyrics that are often at odds with the tonal qualities of the song.
Despite solid compositions and their willingness to bring together varied influences the album never manages to pull itself together. QuarterAcreLifestyle is certainly a talented band, who are willing to try to push the limits of their ability and the conventions they work within, but Blood on the Lawn doesn’t show that they’ve found how to unify the vision.
Filed under: Music Reviews
