Friday, February 10, 2006

Greg Davis and Sebastien Roux: Paquet Surprise, Rating: 7.8

Paquet Surprise is filled with so many textures and ideas it feels like some Edenic tapestry delineating the natural and the digital as one densely populated world.

Over the years we've all had to get used to shrugging off a lot of the creative writing that Pitchfork passes off as album reviews. The quote above is something else, though. It's a dandy. What is Brandon Stosuy saying? I think he's trying to say, in a way that shows how overmatched he is when attempting to colorfully use the English language, is that Paquet Surprise has both digital and acoustic (for lack of better term) elements, and the duo does a good job combining the two.

But Brandon didn't say that. He took a longer route between points A (the thought) and B (expressing it to the reader). Keep to the shorter, more sensible routes. It makes for better reading and less embarassment for the author.

A guy I used to work with would use the word delineate all the time. It was a word that made for good corporate speak. People like to use words that make them sound smarter than they really are. Delineate, I've noticed, is one of those words. It shows up in album reviews a lot, too. Probably for the same reasons.

And just what is an "Edenic tapestry"? Google has no idea. I don't have a clue. Edenic refers to the Garden of Eden. For those of you who like a little less God in our rock, it's an unnecessary Biblical reference. Taken metaphorically, Edenic could mean pure, unspoiled, natural or bountiful. I suppose indie rock writers don't have too many adjectives to describe mellow music, so they come up with things like Edenic. But Edenic tapestry? Did Adam and Eve weave those?

Overall, the quality of the prose here is about as good as if Jim Morrison were commissioned by cheese artist Thomas Kinkaid to write flowery poetry. Yeah, it's that bad. It would come in last in a county fair. "It bursts into dainty droning vocal choruses and glisteny sonics"? Gimme a freakin' break.