MICE AND RATS IN THE LOFT

The success of this album on this site is, in my opinion, largely attributable to its obscure nature. People who are into non-mainstream music seem to delight in "quality" favorites that no one else has heard of and thus exaggerate their quality. The 4.25 star rating seems entirely unjustified to me, although I could certainly see how someone would rate this album 2 stars. At its worst, it is repetitive, unpolished, wandering, and it has overly abrupt transitions between musical ideas (i.e. a lack of flow). It is not an album that I am especially eager to put on. I agree with other reviewers that the lead vocals are often sub-par. My least favorite track is actually the first one, which others seem to like the best. On the other hand, there are some interesting musical ideas and stylistic contrasts that are often well-executed, and the musicianship seems very good. I like the female vocals and flute on the second track, Call of the Wild. Some of the woodwind passages in that track (as well as others) remind me of 21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson.

Overall, this is an idiosyncratic, unpolished piece of music which, to me, demonstrates the creative and technical talent of these artists, but also shows and suffers from their lack of compositional experience.