Review Summary: My favorite band from Vancouver...if Dan Bejar didn't exist.
Starting to wonder if the "indefinite hiatus" announcement in 2019 was a ploy to get more attention to this spectacular band. Mind you, Carey Mercer's contemporaries have (mostly) not witnessed an overabundance of success, but Frog Eyes have often brought up the rear even when compared to their ultra-indie, ultra-Canadian peers. While this requires even more of an acquired taste than a Wolf Parade or Destroyer record, Frog Eyes is arguably the most emotionally wrought act of the Swan Lake trio (and that's saying something).
This album here continues the guitar explorations that 2022's excellent The Bees brought back for the first time since essentially Paul's Tomb. That's not to say the three records in between didn't have his trademark guitar prowess present, but it definitely was not the focal point. Here, even more than The Bees, the guitars are riding shotgun, if not driving. This is really the most cathartic Carey's riffs and wankery have been since Paul's Tomb (just barely still my favorite Frog Eyes record). It starts with five 3 minute dust raisers before devolving into a second half of proggy, thoughtful sad sack epics. It's a fantastic album from a fantastically underrated band.
"I See the Same Things", "Adam is my Brother's Friend", and "Trash Crab" call back to the Paul and Valedictorian days in a way I never thought we'd see again. Once you understand the structure of what's happening here, you'll want to go back and back again. As I just lazily quoted my aspiring Frog Eyes fan-friend, "Frog Eyes are kind of like if mewithoutYou and Modest Mouse had a baby - but Sunset Rubdown and Destroyer had a strong say in how they dressed that baby." Go check it out - support this exceptional stuff.
