The Brown Book's Thirty-Nothing is a long, unwinding bout of instrumental rock that isn't quite as interesting as it could be, but damn if it's not trying. Comparisons are hard to have, here -- they're ex-Preacher Gone to Texas, but this isn't exactly semi-progressive hardcore. This EP's moderately heavy, but not really near Pelican levels. It's a little dirty and burly, but not quite Big Business. But if you enjoy those bands, it may be safe to say Thirty-Nothing will provoke your curiosity. I'm not saying the Brown Book quite resemble either of those bands, but...ugh, yeah, I'm struggling here.

Opener "Deer Heads" has a fairly straightforward, deliberate "verse" before a sudden change to fitful, aggressive guitar motions and rhythmic drum patterns. "Fat Birds" holds a whole lot of confrontation but not too much in the way of dynamism, while "Family Outing" makes up for it with a swelling, subtly building crescendo until a "couple" of clustered climaxes, the second a definite surprise.

"Snuff King" has some spastically manic percussion and wall-of-sound guitars, but "Jumping the Shark" has a more melodic and playful riff to it, as well as an interesting increase in tempo almost two minutes in. Closer "There Is a Boy Looking at Us" gets in some less stressful, semi-mathy guitars too until another numbing, clustered and colliding conclusion.

Not a bad effort. Gotta hear where they take it from here.

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Thirty-Nothing EP