Look up for just a second at that "Siltbreeze; 2012" there. Doesn't that just make all the sense in the world? After a few failed dalliances with a couple of the indie world's heavier hitters-- two for Matador, one for Merge-- Ohio lo-fi distorto-poppers Times New Viking have returned to Siltbreeze, the Philly-based fuzz-peddlers behind the band's first couple of LPs, Dig Yourself and Present the Paisley Reich. Not that they've changed all that much in their time apart; sure, 2011's fitfully satisfying, comparatively scrubbed-sounding Dancer Equired was a stark reminder how well all that grime has served them through the years, but those Matador LPs had all the grisly vitality of anything that came before them. Still, even at Matador, the fit wasn't ever quite right, a problem of expectation more than output; this is a band with a song called "Try Harder" that seemed to sneer at the very concept of effort, and even at their catchiest, they've never been an easy sell. It's not Interscope or anything, but when you're a band on Matador or Merge, you've gotta move a few units. On Siltbreeze-- sometime-home to Harry Pussy, Psychedelic Horseshit, and the Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments-- though? Pressure's pretty much off.
And Over & Over finds Times New Viking sounding like a band with nothing left to prove. The six song, just-under-14-minute Over & Over doesn't give itself a lot of time to fuck around. But fuck around it does, blasting through a few tunes worthy of the best-of and a couple of scraps they could've left on the basement floor. "Middle Class Drags" is the winner here, a brash, immediate power-popper that belongs in the same breath as past triumphs like "Devo & Wine" or "Move to California". Beth Murphy and Adam Elliott's vocals seem to be punching Jared Phillips' guitar square in the face, but the bordering-on-triumphant hook at its center blasts through the din the way a Harley peels out of a church paking lot, a perfect balance of song and snarl. For all its stray slack ("falling further behind and still sleep in," they prescribe), "Sleep-In" has plenty going for it, and in it, too: The accidentally-on-purpose hook's effortless enough, but everything else-- rollicking keyboards, caterwauling guitars-- fall all over themselves, a pile of ankles and elbows in the form of a song.
"Y2K2" pulls back the rubber band as far as it'll go, but they never quite let it snap; by the end, the tension from all that built-up skronk gets stuck in the back of your neck. Sweet relief: "Future With Girls" is all whiplash. With its half-dozen tempo changes, a truly nauseous organ line, and a false ending or two, its all-over-the-place construction seems to mirror the push and shove of the shitty relationship half-described therein, but it's just more song than two lousy minutes could ever hope to contain. Still, it's impressive how tidily Over & Over goes in righting most of the wrongs of Dancer, considering how untidy it is. There's an underlying warmth to songs like "Telephone Wires" and closer "At the Bars" that seems to've carried over from that LP, but unlike the comparatively staid Dancer songs, Over & Over's not afraid to get weird.
Over & Over keeps its stakes on the manageable side, short, and loose, and profoundly uninterested in any kind of statement-making. But that whiff of modesty, coupled with their return to a label better suited to their ambitions, is sort of a statement in and of itself. You're either in or out with Times New Viking; they're too obstinate, too sadistic, the smart-dumb shit they talk in their lyrics too obtuse (and obscured by static) to not trying most people's patience. Which means they're far better off making slight but satisfying records like Over & Over for few obsessives than they are trying to figure out how the hell to get their uncompromising music over to a bigger crowd. For another band, Over & Over's outright refusal to go for the gusto might represent a kind of defeat. For these guys, it feels like a sorely needed restart. Let those other bands chase their audiences; if you need Times New Viking, you know where to find them.
