We've actually written about the first track, Inquiring Mind's "The Only Way" before, with Nick Sessanna calling it an "ultra-hip" mix between Pavement and Lorde. That's a fair comparison: the guitars sound charmingly detuned, but singer Jaz Frazier's voice comes through confidently. It's her persona that sets her apart from either act. "The Only Way" starts out playfully megalomaniacal, with Frazier singing that she never thought she'd find someone as "pretty" or "witty" as herself before she met her current match. But that gives way to the chorus: "Together forever, the stories say... together forever, it's the only way." There's an edge to the way she delivers that "only," especially as the song progresses, that underscores the storybook sentiment with a threat. Frazier's voice is lovely enough that we at first want to read her persona as "Manic Pixie Dream Girl," but we soon find that dropping "Pixie Dream" brings us closer to the truth. It's a good dynamic, preventing us from being totally taken in by Frazier and forcing us to listen more closely to the very strong three tracks that Inquiring Mind supplies to the split.
The other half features the piano-drive stylings of Beekeeper. To riff again off the words of another buffaBLOG contributor, our fearless leader Mac McGuire, Beekeeper sounds like Youth Lagoon meets early Broken Social Scene: hooks coated with noise, echo, and a hint of despair. I'll say this back to Mac: no matter what Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon is singing about, his voice always struck me as a little cutesy. Beekeper's Eli Van Son doesn't have that problem. Far from it, in fact. These songs express a whole range of darker, more subdued emotions. The vocals are at times buried, at times garbled, at times distorted, but they always come through strong, like Van Son is crooning from the last piano bar in hell. The standout track is the album closer, "Come Back Home." Opening with the noise of a small gathering, suddenly Van Son is all alone, a distorted voice roaring out "We grow tall enough to fall" like the words are being ripped out with a fish hook. From there, the song builds, and drops, and builds. There's a new surprise around every corner, be it a head bobbing rhythm or a catchy-as-hell vocal riff or a lull into a lullaby-esque xylophone break before returning to the main, distorted theme. It ends with the line "The skies we saw don't make it easier at all/to punch the clock and come back home," as if all the beauty that preceded it was worth nothing at all.
Don't let that last downer fool you: all the beauty that preceded it on the entire split was actually quite impressive. It's awesome to see a split come out of Steak & Cake with two great acts that fit together so well, especially considering how varied Steak & Cake's roster is. Inquiring Mind brings us up to a manic pitch, Beekeeper brings us back to a contemplative lull, but by the end of the release, we feel recharged, ready to do it all over again.
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