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Minks - By the Hedge (Captured Tracks)













Based on what little I'd heard and read about New York's Minks, this was going to be another winner for the always excellent Captured Tracks label and a surefire new favorite band for me. The chiming guitars, the male and female dueling vocals, the pop sensibilities, the nods to great bands like My Bloody Valentine and The Cure - this was going to be right up my alley. I really wanted to love this record and this band, I could hardly wait to get my hands on a copy. When the package finally came from the label, I grabbed this disc out first and popped it right into my stereo, prepared to fall in love. Except... well, I never did. I heard bits and pieces that I loved, but the entire record seemed washed in gray and I was having trouble connecting with it. I gave it a go on my good headphones and a few songs started to grow on me, I loved the interplay between the vocalists on opener "Kusmi" and "Cemetery Rain" (this neat trick was sorely under-utilized throughout the album) and the snatches of shimmering guitar. But on the whole, this was a wearying listen. Despite the brilliant pop of "Cemetery Rain" and the standout "Ophelia", too many songs wallowed in lazy melodies and a monochromatic palette. In particular songs like "Life at Dusk" and "Indian Ocean" are nearly crippled by monotonous singing and too similar approaches.
But, with time, a few other songs started standing out, sometimes for both good and bad reasons. The soaring chorus of "Funeral Song", a track that generated plenty of blog buzz, is one of the brightest bits of the entire album, but the warbling vocals on the verses are just painful at times, with the vocalist sounding like your friend's very worst Bob Dylan impersonation. Other bits fared much better, the meandering guitar solos of "Ophelia" and "Cemetery Rain" are real treats and help wipe away some of the gloom. And the band nails a particularly neat trick on the former when the whole track starts to drag, sounding exactly like an old Walkman slowly running out of batteries. "Bruises" is another highlight, absolutely nailing the woozy My Bloody Valentine sound that so many other bands strive for. The strongest moments all come on the second half, leading me to believe that better sequencing might have helped to balance this record by spreading out the monotonous first half a little. This is by no means a terrible, or even bad, record, but the brilliant moments make the dull ones stand out all the more. Taken on their own, "Cemetery Rain" and "Ophelia" are fantastic pop songs, but By the Hedge on the whole gets to be a bit of a wearying, dour listen when taken as a whole. Now that I know this band is capable of the moments I had hoped for from the first reviews I read, I'm expecting more of them next time around.