Tighten the Noose

Album Review

Little Brazil is headed by singer/songwriter Landon Hedges, part of the outer orbit of Saddle Creek Records artists who started his own band with 2005's You and Me, an uncomplicated catchy set of indie pop tunes not that far removed from the Minders/Apples in Stereo side of the old Elephant 6 collective. Little Brazil's second album is a darker affair, from its title and cartoon-suicide cover to the far less sweet-natured songs within. Perhaps to emphasize the fact that a formerly solo project is now more of a real band set-up, the songs are considerably longer than before, with lengthy guitar-squall instrumental sections on songs like "Shades" and "Stretching Skin" that sound directly inspired by Where You Been-era Dinosaur Jr. Mid-period Dream Syndicate come to mind as well on "Good Day Goodbye," which sets a deliciously whiny vocal melody to Oliver Morgan's galloping drums. But while these are perfectly admirable sonic references, they point up Tighten the Noose's primary flaw: Hedges' songs are solid, and he's a perfectly decent singer and guitarist, but there's a faintly anonymous quality to Tighten the Noose that keeps the album from sounding like more than the sum of Hedges' influences. This album is not demonstrably better or worse than You and Me, it's just sonically different enough to give the impression that perhaps Hedges' records tend to sound like whatever artists he's listening to most when he's writing and recording. This is quite frustrating, because there's a clear talent on display on this album's best songs, but Hedges' musical personality hasn't shown through yet.