Review Summary: Giraffes? Giraffes! in the woods burning things lying around
Listening to a Giraffes? Giraffes! record is like reading a book by Dave Eggers, the author from who the group takes its name. It’s something of a surreal experience, bordering on pretension but just self-aware enough (and too damn fun!) to never become insufferable. Memory Lame is the duo’s fourth album, and much like the rest of their discography, sits on the border of math rock and post rock, switching from spastic time-switching chaos (see the jerky guitars and blistering drumming of “Knife Eyes”) and almost atmospheric rock soundscapes (the midsection of “Putzing Around the Underworld”).
Memory Lame is dense: With only a six song tracklist, the album’s a whopping 42 minutes long. The tracks rarely overstay their welcome, however. The nearly nine-minute “The Teenagers in the Woods Burning Things Lying Around” builds from a subdued 6/8 groove to a massive post rock explosion, before coming back down in a minute of ambient guitar drone. The aforementioned “Putzing” works as a microcosm for the whole album, combining frantic riffage and textured interludes in a wholly cohesive, 7-and-a-half minute package. The shortest song on the album is closer “At the Turf Field Behind My Parents’ House”. Built around a simple (by Giraffes standards, at least) guitar line and sturdy drumming, “Turf Field” is also the only song on the album to feature vocals, and is probably the most accessible cut for listeners unfamiliar with this sort of music.
The album doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table, both in terms of the genres it occupies and the band’s discography: we’ve come to expect sprawling, multi-part 7+ minute interdimensional journeys since 2007’s excellent More Skin With Milk-Mouth, and like Milk-Mouth, Memory Lame won’t revolutionize the world of math rock or post rock, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a release this year that combines musical technicality with listenability as well as Giraffes? Giraffes! do on Memory Lame.
