Sectioned beams and the structures built out of them present civil engineers with some challenges. Any section of a sectioned beam might have a particular tensile strength or resistance to shearing force, but the beam taken as a whole will have physical properties different from those of its constituent sections. A sectioned beam may be more than the sum of its parts but the whole will still, if one thinks reductively, be more fragile than any of the sections out of which it has been assembled. This EP is just such a beam. The parts hang together but the whole structure appears just a little flimsy. The band gets off to a great start: Locks in Shadows has a groovy shuffle that would not have been out of place in an Austin Powers flashback sequence. (Actually, the preceding glib sentence does not do justice to the aspiration and elevation suggested by the rising chord sequence or the yearning of the vocalists’ harmonizing. And a descending Bach-by-way-of-the-Beatles bassline gets me every time.) The rest is warmed over Japan/Depeche Mode. (Erik Weissengruber)
CD, Kemado Records, http://www.lansing-dreiden.com/index.htm