The Clock Work Army

Just trying to put this CD in my drive was a damn task in itself. The disc was enclosed between two handily-sewn-together pieces of cloth, so I first had to trek all around my house attempting to find a pair of scissors. These scissors wouldn’t even cut through the material, I had to end up using a sharp knife to open this pocket, that’s fine. So I finally get it open and turn it upside down to get the CD out, and it’s stuck to the cloth. Five minutes later, I get it in my drive, and am punished for doing so.

The Clock Work Army play a very mundane brand of female-fronted indie rock. Singer Emily Neveu has a voice that carries a solid range and a solid harmony to it, but the problem is it comes out flat the majority of the time. A lot of that can be attributed to the two other members of the band, who are seemingly just going through the motions, but she’s not free of blame herself. The first song, “nEgAtiVEsPAcE” -- sorry, I’m just copying how the name appears on the record -- displays Neveu in a rather understated capacity to start with, but even so, her voice sounds delicate and rather engaging. It’s when she hits the high notes that it all goes sour. While I appreciate her range, when she does climb the scale, it just sounds so bland and uninspired, like she’s doing nothing more than going through the boring motions. But hey, what can I really expect from a band who spells their song titles like 12-year-old girls on instant messenger. How professional. The next track, not even deserving of a title, because it’s twice as long and still in alternating caps that aren’t even spaced out, is a much slower song that implements the annoying keyboards for the first time. The band tries to give it a real new wave feel between the keyboard, handclaps towards the end, and the recurring shouts of “hey” in the background.

MaYbE I sHoUlD hAvE done my whole review like that, and made everyone feel who was reading how I did while listening.