Aeroplane Pageant : Even the Kids Don’t Believe Me

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/aeroplanepageanteventhe.jpg" alt=" " />An unusual mix brings rewards with further listens from Aeroplane Pageant. ...
6.9 Stormy Flight
2009 

Aeroplane Pageant : Even the Kids Don't Believe MeLong Island indie act Aeroplane Pageant has a sound that’s rather hard to pin down: some of the strains feel like alt-folk, but there’s also an orchestral angle, not to mention electronica – and sometimes they rock.  Along with singer/guitarist Brian Kelly’s voice, high, up/down, and a little nasal, their output isn’t something that’s soft to the ear on first listen.  But it also builds upon further listens (similar, in this way, to fellow Long Islanders Rahim – QRO album review – with whom they’ve shared a bill), and their sophomore LP, Even the Kids Don’t Believe Me, continues in that vein.

Kids opens with a kind of confusing mix of words and sounds, backwards and forwards, on “Memory Begins Elsewhere”, and that mixed-up nature holds true throughout (there are also a few more non-song sound breaks).  The mixture is off-putting at first, but sort of worms its way into your ear – and that’s doubly the case with Kelly’s vocals, which go from being twee and affected to intimate and enjoyable.  Some of the styles are better than others: tops is the old-timey ways of “Nobody Gets Hurt”, horns and almost harpsichord, or on “Where To?”, the Wild West guitars & speed, announcing something bad approaches.  But the restraint of the title track, right in between, stays muddled, and the haunting of later number “Mouthful of Flowers” isn’t what the band does best.

It all really comes together at the end with “After the Car Crash”, where Aeroplane Pageant start semi-restrained, then build to the atmosphere, and then mix and match.  The band’s sound on Even the Kids Don’t Believe Me isn’t ideal or for everyone, but is truly remarkable and their own.

MP3 Stream: "After the Car Crash"

{audio}/mp3/files/Aeroplane Pageant – After the Car Crash.mp3{/audio}


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