Chewing Pine

Mystic Chords of Memory – Self Titled (Rough Trade, 2004)

After my first sampling of this slab I sat down and listened to the Beach Boys’ Smile and Wild Honey.  As a result, I feel that I understand the duo that is the Mystic Chords of Memory a bit better.  Soft and succinct surely came across well for the Beach Boys, so former Beachwood Spark Chris Gunst gives it a stab.  Gunst must be credited for crafting solid songs and being able to evoke warmth through speakers, which at times becomes a difficulty due to the proceedings being detached from the listener. The lyrical content that flies digitally off this slab, when it makes sense unlike the line “I became a lobster and he became me”, is slight and at times a bit lacking.  “Soul Through the Bullet Hole”, with a hint of lo-fi, hip hop style drumming and the final relaxing instrumental offering of “Pi and a Bee” don’t sound similar to the vocal numbers, but languidly reign when compared to other tracks that constitute the rest of the slab.