Each Other – “S/T ” – [Birds Go South Records]

Strong, intelligent rock from this local project. Choppy guitar with a distinctive distorted tone. Big, thick keyboards blasting away and occasionally adding weird textural things. First-rate rhythm section, especially the drummer who evidently has more than two arms. The vocals remind me of Robyn Hitchcock, of all people. I like the sections where not all of the instruments are playing, and then when the whole band comes in, things really take off. Minimal lyrics are, in the band’s words, “based on the lives and stories of selected Russian writers?”, so songs about imprisonment, exile, and such. Not what I’d call a fun CD, but a fantastic listen all the same.