ZapTown

[Article by Stephen Cruze.]

The Depreciation Guild
In Her Gentle Jaws
Kanine Records
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

I’m pretty sure I saw one of the guys in the Depreciation Guild playing guitar for The Pains of Being Pure At Heart while they were on tour this spring.  As it turns out — after scouting around on MySpace —This is Kurt’s (drummer for TPOBPAH) other project and that other fellow I saw on stage with The Pains is Christoph.

I’m not as totally geeked by The Depreciation Guild as I am The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.  It’s a little cleaner and a little more electronic.  They share a similar mid-’80s frame of reference where influence is concerned. But where The Pains take pages from My Bloody Valentine and Jesus & Mary Chain’s songbook, The Depreciation Guild (as they say themselves) build a little more on Cocteau Twins.

The vocals are a little more precious and that turns me off a bit too.  I know it sounds weird to claim that anyone’s vocals could sound more precious than Kip’s from The Pains, but Kurt’s and Christoph’s do.  And I’m not as drawn into In Her Gentle Jaws as I am the stuff on their Myspace page, possibly because this record was made in Dec. of 2007 and they’ve both lived and discovered what comes across better or, I don’t know what.

Don’t get me wrong, There are some wonderful moments on this album.  The instrumental portion of “Heavy Eyes” has a gentle, ’50s lover’s ballad quality to it. “Parasol Parachute” has a beautiful, melting melody.  And there are some monumental sound-scapes to be heard all over this thing.  Shifting drones of distorted guitars and thick synth patches are all very nice.  But I’m not sold on the vocals.  And while I will give these guys another chance based on what I hear here, I hope this is not their break-out recording.

Given what is up on their Myspace page at the moment, these guys have already grown far beyond what is on this record.  I think it’s a good sign when a band today shows promise on their first full-length recording rather than wondering what they could ever do next and thinking maybe it’s just so ramshackle good, that they just got lucky.  This isn’t one of those times.  Its well thought out.  And it’s pre-meditated,  a bit too much so.

I’ll leave you with this.  The exciting news is that The Depreciation Guild will be on tour This fall (Fall 09).  They will be touring with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Cymbals Eat Guitars.  What an incredible show that will be to see.  All three bands have hit heavy on my radar this year.  So check their Myspace page for dates and if for no other reason other than to see how The Depreciation Guild plans to build those lush, complicated sound-scapes in a live setting with just three people. Go to hear their new songs.  I have high hopes.

Links:

The Depreciation Guild – http://www.myspace.com/thedepreciationguild
Kanine Records: http://www.kaninerecords.com/