Pet Genius

Stephen Brodsky project #325252a: Pet Genius. This particular outfit, whose existence seemed to commence only earlier this year, contains the prolific Cave In frontman, frequent Cave-In-member-collaborator Johnny Coolbreeze (Clouds, Hydronaut, Octave Museum) and fellow Cave In member John Robert Connors. Fortunately, Pet Genius' self-titled debut isn't just a pointless foray into Cave In-esque material.

While certainly not among Brodsky's best work, but not necessarily his worst, Pet Genius is a weird, continuously lo-fi exercise in seemingly cheeky garage rock riffage and Brodsky's usual acid trip acoustic numbers, both of which largely share space on the album. (The latter of these certainly painted his solid and sole effort under the Octave Museum moniker last year with some heavy strokes.) After the bluesy, bizarre opener "Doomsday," "The Visiting Dynamite" shows Brodsky getting his falsetto-over-six-string on for a trippy track 2.

From there, the half-hour Pet Genius does a good job alternating between the two, but always with Brodsky's unique pop sensibilities. The momentarily sludgy "Man of the Mountain" shows that Pet Genius can oddly combine the two for a jarring listen.

Is Pet Genius Brodsky's greatest accomplishment yet? Nah. Will it satiate your need for new Cave In? Of course not. Does it provide a cool, decent listen and prove to be more than just a silly vanity project? For the most part, sure.

STREAM
The Visiting Dynamite
Man of the Mountain

VIDEO
Scrapyard King [live]