|
|
|
March Records is cashing in on the enormous success of doing a service to hardcore fans of The Postal Service by reissuing this 2001 album from Figurine, one of the pre-Postal Service projects of Jimmy Tamborello (the non-Ben Gibbard one). In Figurine, Jimmy collaborated bicoastally via the interweb with high school friends David and Meredith. The album sounds pretty much exactly how you would expect it to sound: like The Postal Service, but without nearly as much in the way of guitars and vocals. In fact, one of the weak points of this release is that the boy-girl vocals are unfortunately very pale in comparison to Ben and the two Jens' contributions to TPS. Where Figurine does exceed its successor is in the range of stylistic diversity, with some disco, house, ambient, and hip-hop elements thrown into the electro-pop mix. Lyrically, you'll find the post-modern, emo-nerd, "Sims in love" kinds of themes that you might expect. The band takes the technophile aesthetic to such an extent that the liner notes' "thank you" list consists entirely of email addresses. There's plenty to like on this disc, but for me, some of their experiments fall a little flat, and overall I get the feeling that, as a group, Figurine's ambitions exceeded their grasp. Still, if you're curious about the origins of the Postal Service sound, this is worth a spin, and if you're a fan of experimental electronic pop then you could do far worse than this. (mike.05.05)
rating
related links