Desiderata

Another DC post-hardcore act. Lots of starts and stops, sharp buzzing guitar, rumbling bass...the usual, with one exception; there's a woman singing. Which is unusual in this time and place. She 's Ian MacKaye's sister, Amanda. And she looks just like him, though with more hair.

Unlike her brother, whose intense and emotional vocal delivery helped define what a hardcore and post-hardcore (for lack of a better term, I suppose) band should sound like, her vocal performance is just flat. Everything sounds the same; a steady stream words pouring out rapidfire, with little change in pitch or tone. It's unfortunate, as the songs themselves aren't bad, albeit a bit depressing, and the band is solid enough. Demoralized is the best track here, and it's the one with a little more variation and emotion in her performance.

The distorted bass sound in the intro to the first track wasn't me, I swear. It's just like that. Not sure why. I played it 3 times to make sure it wasn't something I was doing. It's nicely packaged, coming with a poster of the band, and the Max Ehrmann poem that they named themselves after. This was in the ex-GF box. I remember playing it after she got it, though I'm not sure where that was. I think I found this more interesting then than I do now.

A: Walking In My Sleep
B: Birthday, Demoralized
Enjoy!