THE JAWS THAT BITE, THE CLAWS THAT CATCH

This album should have been good. As the Poets Affirm have a very standard post-rock sound with the embellishments of a cello and a pocket trumpet for good measure, with a very lush sound and even some underlying jazz influences, but things just never get off the ground. Besides not having a stand-out sound, the songs just lack memorability. As I am writing this review, I can't even think of any songs to mention for any reason whatsoever. Nothing struck me in a bad way, but nothing struck me in a good way either. It's just plain mediocre. [After going back to look for something I can highlight, I think "The Snick-Berry Switch" is a nice piece with a particularly nice, simple melody toward the end by the cello.] The band has a lot of good ideas, and instrumental interplay; there is no doubt about it. It all feels genuine and even sounds good. You can go listen to some clips online and I guarentee that if you're at all into post-rock you will feel intrigued enough to listen to some more clips, and probably even delve into a full album. Then, you will realize that getting through the whole thing is rather difficult. Something doesn't connect, and all of those good ideas that sound good in 30 second clips just don't make magic together. If you don't have time to read medium-sized paragraph, just read this one. The album is, unfortunately, a dud. If you're a post-rock fiend, you will probably like this enough to throw it on sometimes. Even then, it won't satisfy you like, say, Godspeed or Explosions in the Sky.

I did see that the band has gone in a wildly different direction since this album. I haven't heard much of it, but hopefully the change has allowed them to unlock the clear potential they have.