White Rabbits: Milk Famous - Album Review

White Rabbits
Milk Famous
Rating: Meh

White Rabbits, it seems, will always be in the shadow of Spoon. Britt Daniel handled production duties on 2009's It's Frightening, and led the band into almost sounding like a carbon copy. While I found that album to be a merely decent record anchored by one brilliant single ("Percussion Gun"), there were enough elements there for the band to forge their own unique musical statement. With their latest record Milk Famous, they are still haunted by the spectre of Spoon over the entire record. Of course, when you bring in Mike McCarthy (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Gimme Fiction) as producer, it is not so much inevitable, but most likely a pre-planned idea to sound like them. There are several songs on this record that come straight from the Spoon playbook, lots of barroom pianos, heavily multi-tracked vocals, and an over reliance on everything but the kitchen sink atmospheric excess. When White Rabbits adheres too closely to this template, they sound at best like a Spoon cover band, and at worst, like toadying also-rans. However, when they lean just a little but outside that shadow, their own sound begins to emerge and those tracks stand out so much more than the Spoon-influenced tracks.

Tracks like the new wave influenced "Temporary" and "Are You Free" with their nervous, pent-up guitars and driving rhythms form a tight centerpiece to the record, and is where the record actually takes off from the leaden platform that is the beginning of the album.



Lead track and single "Heavy Metal" is another exception, with its clattering, battering ram of guitars, slightly funky bass, and swirling electronics, Stephen Patterson's vocals a coiled whisper.



"Back For More" draws from the same pool, smearing the guitars with thick reverb, creating a atmosphere of loneliness and desperation.



But too often, the band fades into the background of their own tracks. While impeccably produced and performed, there doesn't seem to be much life in the songs. Honestly, there were several occasions it was very difficult to tell it was not Spoon. "I'm Not Me" even feels like a leftover track from the sessions of their last album.



Tracks like "Hold On To The Fire" and "It's Frightening" suffer from lack of momentum. And for a band with dual drummers, they should never be accused of such. And other songs, just rely on too many elements going on in the background and not focusing on melody or directness, which gets very frustrating while listening to the record. And unlike their last album, there is no one song like "Percussion Gun" that really stands out as a killer single and a "White Rabbits"' song. After many listens, Milk Famous becomes a record that is pleasant to listen to, but not overly memorable, the majority of tracks fading away. The disappointing thing about this record is that the band really has the chops to do what they do well; they just need to break free of their Spoon connections and forge something more distinctive. Honestly, there is really nothing wrong with this record, it just doesn't stand out in a very crowded field.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.