Drawing from a Northwest alternative sound and the latest generation of emo at the time,
Roadside Monument's
Beside This Brief Hexagonal displays the occasional jangly guitar interspersed with delicate soft-to-loud crescendos and the typical stops and starts associated with the mid-'90s emo scene. Utilizing two singers, Douglas Lorig and Mike Dente, the band was able to create a diverse mix of vocals to keep the sound fresh and creative. While a few of the songs hint at the band's religious faith, much of the lyrical contest is an enigma, songs of angst and beauty with phrases like, "I'm a wreck/I think we've settled nothing" ("Greek Tragedy") and "This common ground is not around/I'm not going to change it" ("Lobbyest"). On the songs where Dente takes the lead on vocals, the songs seem more clear-cut and straightforward, musically speaking. On the flip side, when Lorig is at the mic, he steals the performance with his unique ability to take strange quotes and make them memorable, as well as showing the slightly experimental direction from which
Roadside Monument would be heading on their future releases. While
Beside This Brief Hexagonal hardly fits in with the rest of the
Roadside Monument catalog, it is nonetheless a solid album in its own right. ~ Kurt Morris