Lemuria

I've actually covered Lemuria already a while back on my old blog, but since it's a particularly stunning example of spreading an eyedropper's worth of content over a mile radius, I'm back for another round. Lemuria's a 3-piece from the 2nd worst place in New Yawk, and have been pumping out a hit-or-miss indie/pop-punk hybrid for the past 8 years. Not that anyone has it in them to give a shit, but contrary to what I wrote last time, I actually first heard Lemuria's wares way back in 2006, when my friend Anna put the track "Trivial Greek Mythology" on a mixtape for me. I ended up downloading the EP, hating it, and forgetting they ever existed. To be fair, I was also in the early stages of transition from an all death metal/grindcore/powerviolence diet. To be fair, also, that EP is pretty disgustingly cutesy. Somewhat embarrassingly, it wasn't until late 2008 that I garnered any exuberance for bands that didn't specialize in billions of BPM, penning cold post-punk-funk nonsense, or dull-as-dick grunge/pigfuck bullshit. Around that point, I rediscovered Lemuria through their First Collection compilation, and they finally made sense to me. Sure, through months of flogging their goods I acquired a permanent vomit-trigger mechanism to "The Origiamists", but the rest struck me as decent-to-top notch, with emphasis on the first seven tracks.

I suppose that's strike 2 for my original coverage, as there was no legitimate reason that I didn't provide more props to "Hours" through to "Sophomore", the tracks making up the split with Kind Of Like Spitting. The 12", entitled Your Living Room's All Over Me, is easily the most consistent and greatest run of songs the band ever recorded, and completed their transition from the somewhat stomach churning twee-ness of their demo and self-titled to a more polished-yet-idiosyncratic sound. All the odd time signatures and non-standard song structures hinted at in their earlier catalog become the cornerstone here, layered with a thick glaze of left-field pop sensibility that give the band an incredibly mature and relaxed sound. Sheena's vocals are as soaring and crystal clear as they've ever been, but where Alex Kerns used to employ a warbly, gratingly tuneless yell is now a deep, Calvin Johnson-esque faux-baritone that compliments the lead vocals (and the music, for that matter) far better. I'm not wan to bore people to gruesome suicide with track by track descriptions (I prefer monotonous/pointless personal accounts), but fortunately there's not much temptation here, as every track is equally awesome. That said, "Bristles And Whiskers" is easily the highlight for me, and is a perfect blend of the most oblique and dark song structuring the band's utilized to date with enough warmth and poppiness to gel it together. Thematically, it's pretty hard to beat, as well:

He doesn't price his paintings before the canvas dries
His life is living colors like the ones in the sky
On the fourth of July, on the fourth of July
You can keep the closet door cracked
Look outside and dodge accusing eyes
And be yourself for the first time
Bristles and whiskers and a broad jawline is the prize
Enjoy it now because at sunrise
Your friends and family think you're a pervert contaminating their lives
He hides his dirty movies
He kisses his wife
She has a suspicion of his filthy desire
They don't make love, they fuck
They don't make love, they fuck
And he assumes it's enough
They both pretend to come
With a common image of another man man filling them with love
He lives his life
Shaving the whiskers that prickle his wife
She's sitting in a pew praying to a father:
He better purge that closet before the canvas dries

Unfortunately, I've never really found the same kind of quality anywhere else in their catalog. Get Better is a fairly decent extension of the material present here, but as with it's recent followup, Pebble, it's lacking in consistency and often sees the band dragging out songs way past the point they would've cut off in the past. I suppose it's been a while since I've listened to either of those discs, though, (a reappraisal might be in order pretty soon) so pick them up for yourself to figure it out. One last note: despite what impression you might have from my commentary on their earlier releases "cutesiness", they're still well worth your time, especially if you can stand the K Records stable and the less shock-tactic based riot grrrl bands.

Okay, another final note: definitely pick up the First Collection, but if you're solely interested in the split I just described, just send me a message and I'll shoot you an upload.

Alright, dammit, a third final note: I've never heard the Kind Of Like Spitting half of the split. It's probably pretty okay. I dunno.