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Album Details

• Artist: Arms of Kismet
• Album: Cutting Room Rug
• Label: Wampus
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2005-05-24

An entry in the Too Clever For His Own Good sweepstakes, Virginia's Mark Doyon checks in with a basically DIY pop record. More cute than clever, it is a buffet of pop, rock and even hip-hop that aspires to greatness. It thinks Brian Wilson; I think someone who swept up Brian's studio and thought he heard it all perfectly.
The press release compares this to The Who Sell Out, Beck, and Firesign Theatre.(!?). Nothing here is that thematic, nor does any tune brilliantly exploit different genres and media as those on that list were able to do. We've got some attempts at Folk ("Life Imitates", Roots ("Outbound Train"), dance-floor reject ("Cracks") and confused brooding ("Coil").
When clever is done wrong--when only the singer/band thinks it's clever--the result is a smug mess. Arms of Kismet are likeable, and inoffensive to a fault. The problem here is that there isn't enough meat to pull off its ambitions. It is light and airy, and disappears as we speak.

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