STYLE: Rock RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 82543-15705 LABEL: Proost FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Martin I Smith
The confidently named Agents Of Future from North Portland, USA, have been much talked about after their Greenbelt appearances - some loving their eccentric eclecticism, others detesting their rather shambolic stage presence. To be frank, their album here is bizarre - it's raw, unrestrained, messy, passionate and raucous garage rock blitzed with erratic melodies and screeching vocals harmonies. In fact the whole vocal department feels like a shout-along session the entire band decided to join in on - there's barely a moment where one voice is allowed to sing on its lonesome. However, while it's not pretty and polished, the vocal talent is glaringly present; the performance on "Perfect Love" can't be faulted for its beautiful emotional intensity. Note as well that while eclectic, the record manages to deliver the kind of memorable melodies you'd expect from a band like The Killers. The closing cut's rhythmic ending chant of "Heaven is sewn in my skin" is fantastically infectious while musical intelligent (in its own unintelligible way). The magnitude of chaos within 'Sneek Peeks At Magic Moments' guarantees it not be an all round people pleaser, and admittedly there are moments where the entropy exceeds the effective quota, but if you're the indie type fed up with cookie-cutter rock worship, give the disc a spin and you may be proclaiming it your gem of the year.
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