The keyboard instrumental "Preface" that opens the debut album by
the Dead Bodies offers few clues as to what may lie within. If anything, it sounds like one of those becalmed but portentous instrumental fanfares that litter symphonic goth metal albums. And then there's another keyboard-based instrumental with a creepy circus atmosphere. Then another, which sounds like it should be the perky instrumental bed from an industrial safety film from the '70s. Finally, on "Mr. Spookhouse Himself," singer/songwriter Jonathan Weier finally makes an appearance, limning out the obtuse elements of the story so far, and then promptly drops out of view on the spooky "Mr. Spookhouse's Final Drive." By this point, it's easiest to simply stop trying to figure it out and let the album ride. Mixing the horror movie obsessions of
the Doleful Lions with a uniquely mellow and often quite pretty line in delicate indie pop tunes,
Mr. Spookhouse's Pink House occasionally recalls everyone from
Of Montreal to
R. Stevie Moore to
Air. As a whole, the album doesn't really make a lick of sense, but
Mr. Spookhouse's Pink House is an entertaining ride for those with patience enough not to get annoyed at its willful eccentricities. ~ Stewart Mason