Anyone arguing the case that
the Pale Saints were the sole vision of
Ian Masters was pretty much silenced when he left the group.
Masters might have said some misleading things to the press but, as it turned out, his mates had a great deal of artistic input. That's probably what led to his departure. Wanting to do things more his way -- abandon drums, screw with song structures, experiment like a mad scientist, etc. -- he split. Thanks to
Masters' tales of artistic control, many were surprised to see the band continue.
Meriel Barham took over all vocal duties, and
Colleen Browne was brought in on bass. Yet
Slow Buildings doesn't do much to dissuade listeners from the general opinion that
Masters was the band's creative center. Though containing a couple excellent songs (the breezy,
Breeders/
Lush-like "Angel" and "Under Your Nose," the sleepy "Fine Friend"),
Slow Buildings sinks under the weight of lengthy dirges that don't stick and general overindulgence. Five tracks clock in at over six minutes; rather than concocting lovely mood setters or dynamic epics, the material is "just there" and fails to stimulate. Some ugly guitar fireworks don't mesh (like the Skynyrd-ish solo in "Gesture of Fear"), and there are no less than a handful of other instances where one loses sight of where the band's coming from. Program out some of the clutter, and there's a decent 35- to 40-minute record here, although still not on the level of the band's prior works. Credit
the Pale Saints for remaining creative and prolific in the wake of a key member's departure, but there's little denying the failure of
Slow Buildings. The discomforts of blandness? Quite possibly. Advice: no one hoping to like this record should listen to
Lush's
Split within the same month; the similarly formatted and styled record completely belittles
Slow Buildings in every respect.