The songwriting polarity of
the Feelies was always fairly clear -- Glen Mercer's tracks delivered the speedy post-punk jangle and frantic monotone vocals, while Bill Million's backed off into slow atmospherics and ringing arpeggios. With
Wake Ooloo's debut LP, this becomes even clearer -- thankfully,
Mercer backs down from the mainstream excess that hampered the final
Feelies albums and returns to more muscular indie sound that marked his
Feelies compositions, and
Hear No Evil turns out even more appealing than certain
Feelies records. There's still a slight tendency toward rustic, mainstream pop lurking behind the indie jangle, though --
Mercer's songs have a tendency to bear an odd resemblance to early
Tom Petty, and this unfortunate quality only burgeoned on later
Wake Ooloo records. This leaves
Hear No Evil as their most appealing, if least polished, record. ~ Nitsuh Abebe