MiniBoone – MiniBoone

There are some bands that you fall in love with when they’re tiny nobodies, opening a dingy clubs with terrible sound systems – only to fall out of love with them when they get big, or even moderately-sized, and lose what you once saw in them. And then there are groups like MiniBoone, which QRO fell in love with on first sight (QRO photos) – and still love, in their self-titled full-length debut.

The key to MiniBoone is their spastic energy, which always plays out wonderfully live (QRO live review), but can it be captured on record?  Well, MiniBoone answers most definitely in the affirmative, right from the start with “The Superposition of Human Affection”, a humorous take on “love in the time of impatience,” followed by the bigger bap-bap-bap-bah of single “I Could, I Could” (QRO review).  Other standouts include early single (that still rules) “While U W8”, the lower-fi & kid-like “Rollerskates”, stop-start “Gimme Gimme Gimme”, and jangly “Phases”.

Admittedly, at thirteen tracks, MiniBoone probably goes a bit more for quantity than quality (but how else are you gonna fit in songs from all three singers?).  The jangle isn’t as good on “She Sleeps Alone”, nor the stop-start on “$Boone” (which is still funny).  More significantly, the band branches out into slower and sweeter, and even at their best in that such as in closer “Animal Age”, it’s not the MiniBoone you’re looking for.

Every musical act is either better live or on record, and MiniBoone is still better live, but that’s a high bar.  Instead, just jump for joy that their full-length debut is finally out, and hope for even better things in the future for the band – as long as they don’t forget that QRO called them way back when…

MiniBoone – The Superposition of Human Affection

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