Kepler
Fuck Fight Fail
[Troubleman Unlimited]
Rating: 7.4
Kepler are feeling a little down today. It's no different than yesterday,
the day before, or last year. But they don't need your sympathy-- not yours
or anybody's. They live for it. After all, it's what allowed them the means
to record their debut full-length, the angstfully titled Fuck Fight
Fail. It's all very dramatic.
During the course of eight songs, these guys mourn their way to personal
fitness over dramatic, synthesized string sections, weeping guitar and
the occasional airy effects. But rather than whining overwrought emo
sentiments about dark Septembers and forgotten mix tapes, Kepler go in for
darker and artier statements like, "There's blood on the sidewalk/ Bones
behind the garbage." Of course, there's no doubt that emo has left some kind
of impression on these guys, and it shows up in their songs from time to
time. Still, Kepler are closer in execution to traditional slowcore outfits
like Codeine and Rex than "emocore" monstrosities Sense Field and Fireside.
Fuck Fight Fail opens with the glistening, minute-and-a-half-long
instrumental, "I Will Not Return Your Records," spotlighting Jeremy Gara's
glossy guitarwork and Michael Sheridan on "space machine." "Light House"
follows the tidal, almost shoegazer "Loose Ground," with frontman Jonathan
Georgekish-Watt delivering the refrain, "Everyday, my sentence is remanded/
My execution is stayed" over wind chime guitar and ex-Pitchforkian
Samir Khan's cello-like basslines. The record's highlight, though, comes in
the dead center, with "Upper Canada Fight Song." Over nine minutes, the
song gradually builds to Godspeed-esque crescendo that peaks with crashing
cymbals and huge drums that drown out nearly every other element.
So, yeah. Kepler are better than I'd hoped they might be, despite melodramatic
song titles like "The Way You Fall Apart," and a band name that references
the old astronomer guy who discovered that planets move in elliptical paths.
Still, they could stand to shed some of their emo tendencies in lieu of
something a little more artistically viable. Fuck Fight Fail's louder
territory, and even its more 4AD areas, are really the album's shining moments.
Regardless, they've got a great deal of promise, and their next album will
likely blow this one away.
-Ryan Schreiber