eMusic Review 0
The duo of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss nailed their sound on this record — Coomes hammering at an electric harpsichord (as well as other instruments), Weiss driving the songs with pyrotechnical drumming, the two of them harmonizing with a sweetness that’s very slightly sour. It’s also one of the greatest, darkest, most self-and-other-lacerating breakup records ever made, from its brilliant opener “Our Happiness Is Guaranteed” — a hilariously horrifying sci-fi scenario about the only way romance can last for sure — through its later songs of undiluted despair. Coomes offers a few side-trips, too: “The Poisoned Well” seems to be obliquely addressed to a self-destructive friend, “California” is an ice-pick aimed at that state (“Life is dull, life is gray/ At its best it’s just okay/ But I’m happy to report/ Life is also short”), and “It’s Hard to Turn Me On” is, for all its ground-down cynicism, an honest-to-goodness love song.
