Review: Krill | Steve Hears Pile In Malden And Bursts Into Tears

Goddamn album title too long to fit on single headline. Motherfucker, that line just fit on a single line. Various publications stupidly parroting "failed concept album" talking point. This vs. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - S.B. Jonah Furman -- un/reliable narrator? [Would be interesting to good cop/bad cop entire band in separate interrogation rooms and see if the other cats agree to this "failure" bullshit. Should we call Furman on this?] Failure as a positive, as a measure of distance [integers greater than zero, yadda yadda. must listen to The Power Of Failing sometime soon. must not let people see me cry in car while listening to The Power Of Failing. beauty hurts more. subtweet], the metaphoric distance between the purity of the envisioned / hoped-for / anticipated and the reality, no matter how alabaster-white, tidy and well-executed that realized reality is. The idea in your head doesn't smell unless the idea is a smell. And even then it doesn't smell. [FUCK. Look for notes to PHIL 103/Bucknell University/Fall 1993] IMPORTANT: Can music fail anyone besides the person/group of persons whose intent it is supposed to express? Steve : Mouth :: "Failure" of philosophical exercise that is Steve : incredibly satisfying music for fans, underpinned by the kind of stark honesty of an internal monologue. Whose desires are more important? Steve : Mouth :: Furman's ideas : Fan's love of Krill's music [Q: ANALOGIES REVERSED? / should probably mention band name earlier in piece]. Intended unintended consequences oooh that's good. Save. Preview. Save. Preview. Save. Save.

Music as trojan horse, honesty as trojans. Honesty as trojan horse, sentiment freed from melodrama/irony as trojans. [Possible prophylactic endorsement deal?] Real emotional [trash] honesty true hallmark of Mr. Furman's lyrics/singing. Maybe not cool to acknowledge. As much as the trio's music is underpinned in part by Furman's deep thoughts about existence, it is not the academic piece of Krill that makes them so compelling, it's the emotion, so unmediated it is extraordinarily powerful, and the instrumentation is part and parcel of that. Music as trojan horse, music as trojans.

Pile story line superfluous, a red herring. Imposes a framework on projections of pure thought. [SUGAR PILL? or simply just a Krill-esque big ups/high five to Rick and posse] Perhaps music is also a red herring? Music as delivery device for honesty-with-self. Know thyself/beast within. Self-knowledge provides parameters [kinda like in literal/visceral/physical sense as well hahahaha], actual true framework, skeleton on which happiness can be hung like (too-)wet plaster. Refer to Furman's remarks in 2013 interview here. Quote. End quote.

More exposition here: The more we listen to Steve the more the narrative recedes, and the more we just hear the line from "Turd" over and over: "If I could just keep a commitment, maybe I'd be happier?" Fucking majestic guitar work in that song, closing section echoes the opening sturm und drang of the album, that interval between the notes in the guitar memory. That line over and over again. Great hook, but also The Big Idea? It's no secret that Krill fronter Jonah uses a song as a framework to weigh and test philosophical ideas. He sort of said as much in our interview with him. And given the particular area he has concerned himself with (self love), those lines just jump out.

Musical self-reference... The guitar in "Turd" echoes the low/high interval (a fifth?) of the pounding, pulsing opening track, a la Slack Motherfucker or Pedro The Lion's "Never Leave A Job Half Done." Pace is slower than opener. "Turd" is subterfuge, in the titular sense. Yeah, the title gets a laugh, but that is mere deflection from Furman's poking with a sharp stick his own (or, sure, his narrator's) inability to commit, to... what? Happiness? Self-love? Contentment. IMPORTANT: EVERY KRILL RECORD WILL FAIL, AT LEAST AS SOON AS RECORD BUTTON IS PUSHED. OR FIRST PLAYBACK? OR FOLDBACK TO HEADPHONES. FUCK. FIND MUSIC RECORDING AND SOUND DESIGN NOTES / WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, RON KUIVALA (SP?) / FALL 1995

Steve Hears Pile In Malden And Bursts Into Tears will be released by Exploding In Sound Feb. 18 on black-and-white 10" flat vinyl circles with a spiral "groove" cut in both sides; it is also available for sale as a digital download. You can pre-order in either the physical or virtual formats via this link, where you may also purchase some pretty nifty and fashion-forward t-shirts. Krill plays a record release show for the EP at Great Scott in Boston Thursday, after which the trio mounts a five-week U.S. tour with avant pop operation Ava Luna. The tour touts so many dates that reading the list makes us tired. So let's not focus on that. The show Thursday at Great Scott includes sets from the aforementioned Ava Luna, as well as Kal Marks, Bad History Month and Fat Creeps.

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