Wheat
Hope and Adams
[Sugar Free]
Rating: 7.6
The 60-watt soft glow of Wheat's second full- length gently pushes you in the back with two
palms. But this is an encouraging push-- not an annoying push-- into fields of amber organs,
where crystalline spires of guitar rise into a sky of matte, reachable teal. Atmosphere is
pumped courtesy of Mercury Rev's Dave Fridmann, who appears to be taking it upon himself to
produce every band that makes writers spit "fields," "crystalline," "glow," and "...like the
Flaming Lips." Wheat and Adams oozes subtle, if not innocuous, indie rock tricks,
blended into a homogenous, hotdog/tofu- like (depending on your eating dietary philosophy
consistency. While restraint and understatement create a dreamy weave, the unwavering mood
and pace offer few disappointments-- and few standout moments. If anything, Wheat takes
consistency almost to a fault.
Hope and Adams hovers in the air like a hypnotic zeppelin, but you can follow the tethering
cables down to the ground where the Flaming Lips, Pavement, Wilco, and the American Analog
Set lazily hold on, uninterested, sitting in lawn chairs and smoking cigarettes. At high
volumes, the trembling synths and bass pleasantly rattle your teeth like chewing on aluminum
foil. Even if the songs all follow the pattern of "tightly waft along at a medium pace until
sax/ droning guitar/ piano/ strings drop the improvised hook," Wheat's suddenly pleasantly in
front of the pack thanks to large, lily- white sails. "More Than You'll Ever Know" is the most
lovely piece of distortion you're likely to hear, but it leads into the unfortunate "Roll the
Road," which sounds precisely like the Flaming Lips doing a new age version of Tom Petty's
"Free Fallin'." Bands like Wheat never become one's favorite band, but they'll remind you of
all groups to whom you do pray.
-Brent DiCrescenzo