THE ROCKET

OCT 27 – NOV 10, 1993

IDAHO

Year After Year (CD)

Caroline

IDEALLY, THIS ALBUM WOULD SERVE AS THE soundtrack to some abstract movie; it has a spacious, wandering quality that seems perfectly cinematic.

Year After Year might show a few stylistic debts — to the Swans, Joy Division and, oddly, American Music Club — but the first full-length release from this LA duo shows a clear grasp on a very personal vision.

Jeff Martin’s stained voice moves from desperation to detachment, and John Berry’s amazing layers of guitar and noise curl around the songs like tendrils, framing and pointing.

Even at its harshest, there’s beauty in this music, sometimes bleak, sometimes delicate, but it blossoms more with each hearing. All you have to do is listen.

- CHRIS NICKSON