Indie rock at the turn of the century was just as capable of being musically and melodically dogmatic as its higher-profile cousin in the MTV/KROQ radio mainstream, but that is scarcely a consideration on the debut full-length from this Portland, OR, trio. The band's leader and songwriter,
Jeff Pending, has expressed the goal of writing the perfect song, and it is an ideal that pushed his songwriting into an inventive and idiosyncratic stratum on
Starter Kit. Every song on the album is intensely melodic and catchy, but they also feature remarkable, unconventional progressions that render them as emotionally visceral as they are infectious. There is a sense throughout the album of having no control, or, as
Pending writes on "Failsafe," that "when you pull your chord the parachute will fail," a life that is all free-fall and that you can only pull out of for brief moments. Nevertheless, those anthemic moments are the ones to hold on to.
Pending's jarring, unpredictable chords chime almost apocalyptically -- a mixture of resignation, dissatisfaction -- but the song's are pulled from their dejected moods by gorgeous choruses that redeem the music's most melancholic moments. The ringing "The Glory Hole," for instance, has to fight off the feeling of uselessness before it gives way to a kind of pocket optimism, an I'll-make-the-most-of-what-I've-been-given viewpoint supported by the chorus, a breath of fresh air amid the song's troubled-sounding key shifts. These are songs that see the downside, but reject it through sheer determination, even turn it into something exultant. None of the songs stand out, but not because they lack quality. To the contrary, it is because they all are of such a high standard and avoid all the clichés, not only the emotional ones, but the musical ones as well. It is indie rock, but it avoids the trappings of the genre, thereby creating a consistent impact. In fact, as excellent as it is, the album could benefit from a few more respites, some subtle variations from the alluring, strummed discordance and agitated tempos of the music. More flights of fancy along the lines of "You May Already Be a Winner," a slowly unfolding bit of unrefined psychedelia -- airy and alluring without entirely leaving this sphere -- or even just more of the sweet two-person harmonies of "Milking a Horse," would have made all the songs come off more dynamically. In avoiding all the old indie rock formulas,
Starter Kit creates one of their own in a sense and then rarely deviates from it, thus blunting some of the music's potency and obscuring just how vivid it really is. But that is only a minor quibble, in the end, especially when confronted with such bold, exciting songs.
Starter Kit doesn't contain the perfect song, but it does have a bunch of pretty great ones. And something about the album promises that
Pending will eventually write that flawless song, probably even a few. This disc, though, is tantalizing enough on its own merits.