Endless Boogie's 2008 LP debut, Focus Level, brimmed over with agreeably out-of-time guitar rambles, a wooly tangle of Skynyrd and Steppenwolf and anybody else unwilling to let a good solo go. The album, clocking in well over an hour, was fitfully satisfying but felt unfocused and exhausting over the course of an LP. Their latest, Full House Head, spreads eight chugging fretboard excursions over an equally copious 76 minutes, roving past everything from the Marshall Tucker Band to the Meat Puppets along the way. The boogie's still not bad; it's that other thing they've gotta knock off.
After a brief intro lick, "Empty Eye" starts chooglin' and, for the better part of 10 minutes, doesn't stop. Guitarists Paul Major and Jesper Eklow duke it out on the fretboards, with Major getting in a few gutturals just to keep things interesting. Trouble is, they lock right down into it and never let up, rarely varying tempo or toying with dynamics, locking in the bass and drums and weaving solos in, out and around until even they can't take it anymore. Then "Tarmac City" starts, and we're at it again. Tracks are loosely arranged into songs but they mostly feel like just excuses for Major and Eklow to go off. Which they do. Repeatedly. Endlessly.
And it works; for a while, anyway. Their playing's loose and economical, and the period-appropriate, bombed-in-the-backseat vibe admirably regressive. Major's singing seems to suit these songs a bit better than it did on the sometimes goofy Focus Level, although he's still a little light on hooks. The proceedings seem livelier overall, if even more protracted. The Southern smoke, San Fran psych and hard rock snarl that makes up these tracks doesn't feel overly reverent in their hands, just a little Bar Band 101. And, as with Focus Level, repeat spins don't do Full House Head many favors; Eklow and Major are fine guitarists, rugged and never gar [#script:http://pitchfork.com/media/backend/js/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js]|||||| ish, but a little more flash might do them some good, as many of these tracks feel samey even after you've spent 10 minutes with them.
After a while these rangy solos seem to content to just traipse along side by side, occasionally veering into each other messily, never reaching for any kind of precipice. Which means pretty much every song that passes the five-minute mark-- which is pretty much every song-- outstays its welcome. Leaner, fierier takes on these same wayfaring tunes would've surely resulted in a punchier, more replayable set. But the patchy, drawn-out Full House Head once again finds the band with way more boogie than they know what to do with.
