Though occasionally showing true flashes of promise,
Simeon & the Alchemysts is largely an unfocused set. At different times sounding like
Sonic Youth, PiL, and even
the Doors, the group's brand of post-punk/psychedelia seems to suffer from a lack of variation in sound. The soaring guitars, ringing organ, and crashing drums of "Lost Beat Magazine" fail to generate any real energy, whereas other tracks, like "21st Century In-Car-Entertainment," become tiresome after five minutes. To be sure, the entire album would probably be more listenable at around 40 minutes rather than 60, as most of the tracks are unnecessarily long, averaging about eight minutes each. The vocals, shared between the four members of the band, tend to get buried under layers of distortion, though each member seems to be more than competent at creating vaguely trancelike moods. The cascading guitar workout "Morning Comes," at over 15 minutes, is probably the sharpest piece of improvisation here and, more than any other track, delivers on the breakthrough that the others only hint at. Building on that, much better collaborations should be expected. ~ Matt Fink