Arlo
““Up High In The Night””
(SubPop)
Somehow, be it the sagging bass strings or morose noodling, one is instantly able to ascertain that Arlo is on Sub Pop. To sum up my review, for those people who don’t read all the way to the end of these lengthy in depth analytical explications of the rock and roll albums and how they shape our world, Arlo is up to way too many melodic niceties and not enough punch. Okay that’s the end of the review for most of you. Brave souls, tarry onward. It’s like a whole mess of Across The Universe with no Get Back. It’s like gravy without the lumps. Salsa without the chilies. Old age without the slather of Ben Gay. Your ass without my foot. But I do understand that sometimes people don’t want sprinkles on their donut, and for you losers, Arlo is perfectly good. There are some pleasant well written pieces of music, and it has a coarse heaviness underlying the smooth monotony of unvarying down beats and dreamy vocalized expressions of what I know not because I have no lyric sheet. Interestingly, for no discernable reason, Arlo has two bass players. The bass is heavy and grumbling with a chewy thickness like carnival taffy and perhaps it makes more sense to have two bassists when playing live to get that bog sludge feel into the show. More interestingly, two other band members are also credited on the bass. What in the hell?
