Search - Lassie Foundation :: Pacifico

It sneaks up on you

Esther Rabinowitz | Boston, MA United States | 10/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have to say, this album did absolutely nothing for me the first two or three times I heard it. It sounded like they were going for "My Bloody Valentine does PET SOUNDS." And while that's an accurate shorthand description, it's reductive and it doesn't take all of the band's strengths into account. I was listening to it again last night and for some reason, this time it just completely grabbed me. Jeff Schroeder's falsetto vocals and the overdubbed harmonies blend with the susurrating waves of pink noise which surround the mostly minor-key songs, but where most bands working this side of the stylistic street seem to think that cool sounds and enveloping ambience are enough, the Lassie Foundation take the extra step of writing solidly melodic songs with instantly memorable choruses and hummable riffs. The yearning "Dive Bomber" and the sunshiny, Apples In Stereo-like "She's the Coming Sun--She's Long Gone" are substantial pop songs, not just exercises in atmosphere. They also get points for the judicious use of handclaps, maracas and "ba-ba-ba" vocals. If you have fond memories of the turn-of-the-90s shoegazer bands--particularly Ride and maybe the first Velocity Girl album--then I think you'd really get behind this. Give it a couple listens to sink in first, though."