Conor Oberst would be proud. The grandiose mix of stretched-out personal lyrics matched with a crescendoing snare drum is alive and well in the confines of Boris Smile’s new EP, Beartooth. Loosely-wrapped strings and drums are nothing new in indie pop, but it’s a fine line between sounding like the next wailing emo bitch who can’t tune and The Mountain Goats. Boris Smile [Myspace] has a few production tricks going for them, which at once makes the EP more palatable and makes the idea of listening to them live a precarious thought. It’s too early to call if they are a well-rounded band, and I’m afraid this EP only gives a few faint ideas in both directions.
If one takes the smoothly-mixed tracks “Hour of the Wolf” and “Program Me To Love,” then we have nothing to fear. Both are sentimental and clean and deserve to be on a few Valentine’s mixtapes this month. They offer a glimpse of a band capable of creating the next “Such Great Heights,” and this should be encouraged (and the Scrubs-ready “Books of Blank Pages” should underline a prime-time climax as soon as possible).
The “problem” (I add quotations because it really all depends on “perspective”) is with the jangled “Beartooth (spooky version)” and “Tut Tut,” which both drag their heels and feel not only unpolished but close to demo-level quality. It wouldn’t be apparent if not for the excellent work with the first three tracks I mentioned. I want to clarify that this might be the point, and that it’s very possible they are trying to illuminate vulnerability by having these tracks be less varnished. And as I’ve said in other reviews, an EP is a great place to experiment and this might explain the sonic shift from professional to four-track standards.
All in all, I do want to hear more from Boris Smile. The vocals and sweet-as-all-sentiment melodies are rock solid. The question should be whether they want to be rough or polished, or if they want to continue straddling the line.
“Beartooth” [mp3]
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I actually didn’t care for it that much. I listened to Beartooth, and he gets so off tune and sounds like he’s in pain or very sleepy while he’s singing in some parts. I don’t know if there’s much they could do to get better, but they’re tolerable to listen to at best.