Blunt Mechanic's 2010 debut album
World Record features singer/songwriter
Ben Barnett's particular brand of lo-fi indie rock that touches on '90s slacker rock, '70s soft rock, and punk. Having spent years on the Seattle music scene helming various other projects,
Barnett's
World Record is a kind of melodic rebirth and re-envisioning of
Barnett's past success with his band
Kind of Like Spitting. In that sense, we get a slabs of over-driven guitar, thudding drums, and angsty double-tracked vocals with lyrics that seem to spill from
Barnett's mouth stream-of-consciousness-style, but are clearly well-planned out and introspective. To these ends, such tracks as "Thrown Out at Third," "Aluminum & Light," and "Our First Brains" are catchy, melodic indie rock moments that reveal a heavy and well-earned debt to such bands as
Pavement and
Sebadoh. That said,
Barnett's own lo-fi take on this sound is unique and singular enough that listeners should set such comparisons aside and simply crank the volume. ~ Matt Collar