Rusty Tomaski
Oh ... Sweet Irony (CD)
 Homespun beauty once again hits us from Sweden, this time in the form of Rusty Tomaski's Oh ... Sweet Irony CD out on Asaurus. But whereas his fellow Swede, The State of Samuel, wowed us verily with hooky lo-fi power pop, L. Schrab (I thought at first that the name of the guy was Rusty Tomaski but apparently not?) immerses us slowly in a world of humbly understated melody fragments. The songs feel incomplete at times, and that's entirely what makes it so wonderful. Schrab is challenging us to come out of our happy dancehalls where everything is in its right place and makes sense. On that note, you probably don't want to play this at a party as it's definitely not an uptempo album. It's not a downer though. It's like a gift that you'd want to share on an overcast afternoon with a friend who appreciates this type of reflective music.
This feels at times sort of meandering like Mark Kozelek but with all the self-immolation and popsmarts of Pedro the Lion's David Bazan. Maybe a bit of lo-key Hayden thrown in to the mix. The angst is there but it's buried deep. I also sort of reckon it to the un-pop of Joan of Arc though not as wiggy or electronic; more the basic feel of the songs rather than the structure. Much of the album is just Schrab and a plaintive guitar. The vocals are excellent for this type of music; he sure can stretch out the syllables nicely.
It's actually difficult to pick out songs that really stand out, but somehow that's ok. Sort of like if any particular song was too engaging or too different it might throw off the mood. But some of my favorites included "A Blank Phrase", "Parts of a Whole, Taken", and "The Irony of It All". These tracks are actually very reminiscient of Pedro the Lion and Red House Painters, which is fine with me as I'm a huge fan of both of those artists. "Baklanges" is an instrumental containing pretty reverse guitar... this sort of reminded me of a car commercial that I can't remember the name of. The two chord dirge, "Diskvatten", is sort of reminscient of Cobain's "Something in the Way". The closing track "Surr" consists of such strange feedback that it feels like the low signal radio station I've been tuned in to has suddenly gone dead. That's sort of a good metaphor for the album... brief momentary glimpses of darkly spun tales that just as suddenly disappear into thin air. Very nice
- review by RABBIT (2.28.04)
Asaurus Records
PO Box 0664
Allen Park, MI 48101-0664
records@asaurus.org
www.freewebs.com/rustytomaski
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