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San Francisco's Parker Street Cinema is one of those bands that is defined by a formula of lineup and instrumentation: an instrumental trio of piano/keyboard, bass, and drums. Nothing wrong with that—a little conceptual rigor is often a good thing—but unfortunately the songs here just don't provide the bracing kind of tension or discovery needed to back up their reductive formula. The musicianship on this 5-song EP is competent enough, and goodness knows this is a well-produced disc, but the songwriting is somewhat basic and uninteresting. Maybe the songs would be better with melodies, but since the band deliberately took melody off the agenda, that kind of speculation is moot. I don't know, I think that (if the packaging is any clue) these are serious guys who were going for something super-stark and (duh) cinematic, but what they achieved is just blah. (mike.11.05)
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