The Capstan Shafts
Ample Tribes For Sullen King Pounder (CD)
 I keep getting these Capstan Shafts albums in the mail... they breed like, well they breed like Rabbits! Hooray. Anyhow, the one I'm holding in my paw came wrapped in a menu printout of sorts advertising such delicacies as "Lemon Artichoke Chicken With Garlic White Wine And Herbs On Linguini With Feta 14.95" and "Assorted Skewers With Jerk Chicken Orange Sesame Beef And Cajun Shrimp On Mixed Greens With Julienned Vegetables And Dijon Herb Dressing 17.95"... kinda expensive, no? But wait you want to hear about the music, which is once again friendly, poppy, hummable, all the fun adjectives. Dean Wells of The Capstans Shafts exudes that personable energy and high volume (whoah nelly, distortion drums) that makes for good fun indiepop. And I think the songs are somewhat more coherent on this release as well, and even slightly more accessible than the previous one (Great Reset Button Of Life).
The 2nd track, "Dukes Of The Ugly Sound" has a Cure-like riff played by an acoustic guitar. One of my favorite tracks on this particular EP, which I think but am not entirely sure is called Ample Tribes For Sullen King Pounder, is the peculiarly titled and fairly short "No. 5 Aluminum Lake". Partly country-folk in feel, there is this part where he holds this one note until I assume his face is pure blue. Neat. "Alien Like Paraguay" further shows how the Capstan Shafts have taken a sound that in one alternate universe could be The Silver Jews and mutated it into a cross between Guided By Voices and The State Of Samuel (Sorry, I keep mentioning this band, although I'm sure that there are other bands that sound similar... I'm just on a State Of Samuel trip right now). Oh, the mixing of metaphors about bands... so fun, yet so misleading eh? Well, just be sure your speakers are turned down a tad before you put this CD on and you'll be fine...
- review by RABBIT (9.2.04)
The Capstan Shafts
deanedwardwells@yahoo.com
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