You think the upcoming "X-Files" movie is gonna bring the "Whoa-- late 1990s!" roffles? Go ahead and dig up the soundtrack-- while certainly not a definitive work, it's still as good as you're gonna get in terms of charting one of alternative rock's more slippery slopes. Pressed between the impending millennium as well as the critical crush on technologically-aware, genre-defiant records like OK Computer, When I Was Born For The 7th Time, Odelay and, what was supposed to be the granddaddy of 'em all, The Fat of the Land, post-grunge got shook and starting rhinestoning up their flannel with anything that remotely could be considered electronica. This is how you end up with Filter doing a dubby cover of Three Dog Night's "One" and Better Than Ezra going trip-hop, to say nothing of Our Lady Peace's Spiritual Machines and Bush's Deconstructed.
Despite its presence on uber-modern Mush, Head Like a Kite's second album feels like a total throwback to that very era, albeit far less risible than the aforementioned examples. While Dave Einmo's stage name implies some sort of fancy-free approach to his craft, this is the sort of minutely studied studio pop where the decision to dig in the digital crates for chintzy PSA samples takes as much precedence as writing memorable melodies. And that really illustrates the limitations for what the record can accomplish, since Einmo is primarily a songwriter at heart-- not nearly outré enough for the IDM-heads and just a bit too skewed for regular pop, it hits that enjoyable but often placeless template of music which reminds you of shopping for sharper work clothes than usual.
The sinister, bass-driven beat of "No Ordinary Caveman" is a nice backdrop for Einmo's slack, Lou Barlow-ish voice and a far better exemplar of what HLAK could accomplish than tech-damaged Cake-walk like "Listen Young Stunners" and the vocoder-spiked "Keano's Couch" (think Man Man's "El Azteca" but twice as long). Even the cynicism feels like a 90s relic-- Einmmo is nowhere near enough of a tunesmith to pull of "Big FM Radio Hit", which is actually more like a 4th-gen replication of "E-Pro". More appropriate for that title is the Smoosh-assisted "Daydream Vacation", which shows Einmo as being perhaps more gifted as a facilitator; as they say in Hollywood, sometimes getting the right people in the room is enough.
Still, Einmo hits his targets often enough to keep the pace moving-- "We Were So Entangled" is sorta maypole-esque, spinning ribbons but grounded, its tune recalling "Feel Good Inc." in a way suggesting that it's stuck somewhere in the back of his mind instead of the tip of his tongue. And even throughout the stylistic left-turns, there might not be giant hooks, but there aren't any barbs either-- whether it zips past your ears or becomes an enjoyable if somewhat impersonal expanse of 40 minutes (equal possibilities), it's never a chore. His previous album, Random Portraits of the Home Movie relied on a concept of sorts, interspersing snippets of Super 8 videos taken with his family, and while There Is Loud Laughter Everywhere is a solid sophomore effort, it could've used a similar touchstone to guide his intentions-- at least something other than the sonic blueprint of "Natural One", until he's truly ready to beat Barlow at his own game.
