My Ion Truss

They Say...

Review by Margaret Reges, All Music Guide

Album by album, year by year, Minus Story have been paring away at the psychedelic noodling that characterized their first release, and from the sound of things, the transformation is complete on My Ion Truss. This isn't to say to they've done away with the psychedelia altogether -- it's there in every aquatic flute warble ("Beast at My Side"), in every spidery keyboard effect ("Stitch Me Up"), in every Laurel Canyon-like piano lilt ("Pretty in the Light"). This is just to say that the psychedelia has essentially been emulsified into Minus Story's sticky blend of noise pop and indie rock, and to good effect. They've officially stopped being a lo-fi project as of this release, too, teaming up with their very first professional producer, John Congleton (who produced the Polyphonic Spree's 2007 release, The Fragile Army). My Ion Truss is the band's most consistent-sounding effort to date, and that alone contributes a lot to the mature feel of the album. This isn't to say that My Ion Truss is a homogenous album, though; it shivers between dreamy, drifty, crooning indie pop ("Battle of Our Lives") and pounding, hard-driving, fierce (yes, fierce!) rock ("Aaron"). This is a well-developed effort, to say the least; it shows the band at their strongest and most capable, and tracks like "Stitch Me Up" and "Beast at My Side" number among some of the group's most vital songs. But this album doesn't quite top 2004's The Captain Is Dead, Let the Drum Corpse Dance; it just doesn't have the same glorious, messy spark. This is the beginning of a more polished Minus Story, and it's a good album in this regard. Fans of the band's scrappy, unpolished beginnings might feel a little bit wistful when presented with My Ion Truss, though.