It's not quite a
Hall without
Oates situation, but there's a significant element missing on
Identikit. That would be the departed Bill Barbot, J. Robbins' partner in noise for the prior decade. It was his tight and jumpy
McCartney-style bass that helped make
Mission: Control! such a spectacular successor to the final
Jawbox record. And when Barbot joined the band after their debut LP, he forged an immediate bond with Robbins as second guitarist and vocalist. You could always bank on the two providing riveting dialogue of the instrumental and vocal varieties. The negative sentiment shouldn't come at the expense of replacement Mike Harbin, who packs his own wallop. Robbins is more than a formidable force as the lone lyricist and guitarist, but he's either spread himself too thin or is too cognizant of Barbot's absence. While it's impossible to pick out substandard moments, it's equally challenging to pick highlights. That said, it remains a solid record, despite not being entirely remarkable. Hardly any progression is made from the debut, sounding more like the post-hardcore of latter-day
Jawbox than the "
XTC on steroids" of the first BA outing. New percussive devices and group harmonies require an attentive ear to catch, doing little to alter the band's sound. The melodicism of the debut gets placed on the back burner here, generally kept to the periphery. Robbins' guitar leads tend to stick to the skillful bash-'em-out nature that he perfected years ago, all but shelving the choppy staccatos used so well on the prior record. Ultimately, the only sore point of
Identikit is its stubbornness to cut the cord from oft-traveled territory. The closing tracks -- which seem more like bonuses than part of the album -- suggest an increasing glut of ideas up their sleeves. Let 'em out! ~ Andy Kellman