Loom

Cursive broke through big time when cellist Greta Cohn made her contribution to The Ugly Organ. It had only taken the band one previous EP and that album to integrate it into their progressing sound perfectly, and they were rewarded with critical -- and some commercial -- acclaim. Oddly enough, musically, the violin-accompanied Loom somewhat resemble Cursive's last release before the cello integration (Domestica), with At the Drive-In's vocal splashes for good measure.

Opener "Castles" bears the similar scratchy riffs of that album, and plays them up against the violin's orchestral layer. The two don't seem to completely mesh together, though -- where Cursive's organ played like a fine piece of the puzzle, Kim Pack's violin stands out noticeably, sometimes in a distracting way. At least it doesn't sound completely auxiliary.

Otherwise, Loom have a sound with a decent amount of potential. There's plenty of unexpected structural changeups to the songs and a weird dynamic about things. The first two songs, their vocal approach could certainly use some variety; it involves every member shouting in unison whenever the song calls for a singing part, and it gets a bit monotonous. Then, finally, "Sculpt" finds a sole member shouting the lines in anguish with less help from his bandmates as usual. The two strategies share space on "Tracera."

Angler is a nifty little EP that shows Loom is far from really nailing their sound down, but is definitely starting to push the pieces into place.

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Angler EP