People who don't like experimental albums tend to point up similar "flaws": there are no "songs", it's too minimal, the musicians don't play their instruments well, or don't do enough with them...but whether complainers come around or not, one expectation everyone should have is for that record to push your boundaries or buttons in some way. It should show you a new tactic, or a personal voice-- something to set it apart from everything you've heard before.
Even with such limited criterion, there are albums that just have nothing going on. The biggest problem with Christmas Decorations' debut Model 91 isn't that it's simple or limited, but that within their constricted style, they aren't doing anything new or illuminating. Steve Silverstein (aka Madam Estrella) and Nick Forte (of Rorschach and Beautiful Skin) play what could be described as primitive pop-electronica, made with low-tech gear and chincy-sounding digital sequencers. You could as easily tag them as indie rock: they play guitar and bass, though they don't do much with their instruments. Whatever you call it, the album fails on a basic level: it never engages the listener.
Christmas Decorations stick within a rigid sound world. Most of the thirteen tracks are short instrumentals-- about three minutes apiece-- built on thin effects and beats; they layer ambient waves over the music in a disinterested, "look what this effect does!" fashion. Each piece is basic and barebones, aiming for mood: some pieces loom like haunted dreams, but most are tainted by canned "spooky" guitar effects. There's no hint as to what we're supposed to be haunted by, however, or what's so haunting about this music. Without dynamics, there's no chance we'll find a particular passage any more or less affecting than another.
Vocal tracks fare better, presenting skittish avant pop with goofy arrangements and nonsense lyrics. The best song, "A Random Hill", pits a British-accented lead and catchy harmonies over a melodica and samples; others, like "Lowlands" and "Hen's Teeth" suffer for their tedious attempts to wax sinister. Between the amateur vocals and skewed, deconstructed songs, you can almost trace a line to Brian Eno's 70s "pop" records, but that's just another reminder: this was done far better decades ago, when people first started taking pop apart. That those folks pushed the boundaries much farther and wrote better songs is further damnation for these young turks.
The biggest disappointment isn't that the record's so primitive, derivative or simple, just that it doesn't tell us anything about the artists or their goals. We can hear the influences and the gear that they're playing around with, but we don't find out what sets Christmas Decorations apart from any other bedroom pop group. These two guys are far from novices, but there are hundreds of demos out there with far more to say, and better.
