After hearing “Waving at the Shore”, the first track off Throw Me The Statue‘s sophomore album, Creaturesque (which, by the way, is really killing me to type every time), I was expecting nothing short of pure brilliance from Scott Reitherman and his Seattle crew. I’ll concede that I fell madly in love with Moonbeams so I guess my expectations were high anyway. But what happened after “Waving at the Shore” was, well, not only short of brilliant, but also short of complete.
I sit listening to this album for probably the eighth time as I write this review. And just when I consider the possibility that I may not be giving Creaturesque the benefit of the doubt, I’m hit with how little I feel. Throw Me The Statue has previously been able to evoke warmth, a grin, a get-up-and-go attitude. But not this time. This time all I feel is a disconnect from the sound. There’s crisp production, some nice melancholic, layered electronica, but it doesn’t HIT – which is something I find hard to express in words. For an album to really strike, it needs to penetrate my core.
The main emphasis of labeling Creaturesque as an “almost” effort is that there seems to be so much potential in each song – certain parts seem ready to explode – like toward the last quarter of “Tag” with a textured, gorgeous atmosphere, or the brief acoustic section of “Ancestors” – yet somehow don’t want to push on further to really make any sort of difference. Instead I find myself waiting for the next track to bring out a flourish of something special and to build upon that flourish. But then, nothing. I’m left hanging as emptiness gushes from every pore. On Creaturesque, the songs end just as they’re beginning.
Throw Me The Statue – “Waving at the Shore” [MP3]
Throw Me The Statue – “Tag” [MP3]
