by
Matthew Smolak
In this review:
The Floor
Autonomy Off/On
The previous album from The Floor,
the Doll EP, was brief but good enough to leave listeners
wanting more. The new release, Autonomy Off/On follows
up on the promise of the debut from the band: Matt Pahl (singer
and guitarist), Dan Carlyle (drummer), Paul Arnusch (bassist)
and Graham Lessard (guitarist and keyboardist).
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Autonomy Off/On ::
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Autonomy Off/On is not much longer than the Doll
EP: still only seven songs and just under 33 minutes
long. However, the Edmonton, Alberta band has honed its sound
and bumped the production up a notch.
While the band still thrives on tapping into the edginess
of the 1980s, there is a modern tone to the music. The musical
earnestness of the 1980s is present but the naiveté
is absent—as is the post-modern irony that accompanies
so much new music.
Musically, the guitars move more into the background on Autonomy
Off/On, providing more atmosphere and mood than on The
Floor’s debut album. The bass drives many of the songs
with a throbbing steadiness that doesn’t fall into funk
but serves as a foil for moodiness. The songs stay more upbeat,
just as songs by The Smiths seemed like poppy happiness—until
you listened to the lyrics.
Highlights on the album are hard to find since almost all
of the songs stand out. The opening track, “Drown Inside,”
features a little more direction from the guitar and lots
of space for the vocals to echo. In fact, with “Drown
Inside” another key difference from the previous album
becomes apparent – the vocals. Whereas the vocals were
rough and raw on the Doll EP, on Autonomy Off/On
they are more contained. The result is solid and more forlorn,
but not in a pitiful way.
One of the more raucous songs, “Isolene, I,”
is also one of the more introspective. “Automaton”
successfully plays with various effects and shows off some
of the guitar sound of Pahl and Lessard that’s reminiscent
of guitarists like The Edge and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour.
“Impossible” is possibly the best track on the
album. While the vocals seem a little distant in the production,
the song balances all of the elements that give The Floor
their sound, including a very cool guitar riff that A Flock
of Seagulls could easily have milked to sell more diet soda.
The album ends with The Floor’s longest song, “Cloud
of Blinding Light,” at over eight minutes long. Strangely,
despite such short albums and with songs hovering right around
the four-minute mark, “Cloud of Blinding Light”
still seems to blow by at a decent velocity even though it
is a quarter of the length of the entire album. This song
closes the album showing the band to be full of possibility:
Autonomy Off/On is definitely something to get turned
on to.
Read a review of The Floor's debut album, Doll
EP.
More on The Floor: http://www.thefloor.ca/
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Author Matthew Smolak is a musician, DJ and politician living
in Edmonton, Alberta. He believes no man with a good car needs
worry 'bout nothin'. Listen to Matt live via Webcast on Sundays
between 9 and 10 a.m. MST as he preaches to the savage mind
and spins eclectic mixes. www.cjsr.com
Thoughts on The Floor or music in general?
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