Prisonshake, Dirty Moons
Ambitious and triumphant return for indie stalwarts roams the stylistic map
Given that this long-running St. Louis-via-Cleveland band's last album came out in 1993, and that the recordings on this new one span the long epoch since, maybe it shouldn't come as such a surprise that much of it seems a throwback to days when guitars mattered more in indie rock. But if the billowing riffage, impassioned melodies, twisted rhythms and under-enunciated vocals remind you of some forgotten old Homestead or SST release, remember this: Prisonshake principals Robert Griffin and Douglas Enkler were already perfecting their own sound two decades ago. And in 2008, it sounds even more perfect.
Enkler's singing tends to be a muffled blur, which makes the set's ambitious structure — two discs split into multiple "Entry Points," containing occasional songs-within-songs — somewhat hard to follow. But there's an extremely readable lyric sheet if you want it, and beauty and energy more than compensate for translation difficulties. Opener "Fake Your Own Death" sounds almost like a hard rock version of Jorge Ben's hard-samba classic "Umbabarauma"; from there, highlights range from compact post-garage nuggets like "The Cut-Out Bin" (introduced with a voicemail about rat bites at a Biohazard concert) to extended and frequently galvanic Griffin guitar explorations in tracks like the ten-minute "Year of the Donk Including the Leftover Monkey" (which also directly references Bob Seger's 1972 Smokin 'Ops). Placid violin and cello and keyboard and lady-vocal parts vary the palette further; heck, to my ears, "You're Obviously the One" even crosses Eddy Grant's "Police On My Back" with Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans." You'll find your own reference points, though — and they'll keep unfolding.
