Unhelpful

TUiE is a somewhat atmospheric album that doesn’t lend itself well to typical shuffle-play; there are various bits and pieces as both individual tracks, and appended to the ends of song tracks that more or less mandate listening to it as an album. Anything Box has only recently entered my music collection. As I understand things, they used to be very synthesizer oriented, and only in recent years have begun adding the sound of guitars to their music: TUiE falls under their “newer” sound, with guitars.

Particular gems:

• “Clean” - absolutely sweet groove, also found on “Binaural Repeats” that is freely available.
• “Constellation” - simple intro into this song is compelling, and has a beat worth dancing to, particularly if you’re spending the time with a chica.
• “I’m On My Way” - also almost dance-compelling, just has a really good beat, guitar and vocals also work extremely well together.
• “Robotnik” - great pop sound, very short. Tempted to wish this was longer, but it might get old quicker if it were longer.
• “65 Million Miles” - soft vocals and simple sound, easily the best of the slower songs on the album.
• “Space” - a little difficult to get into, but becomes beautifully anthemic.

Interesting tracks:

• “Space Age Blues” - I’d like to hear this in a much faster tempo
• “Isolation99″ - the beginning sound and lyric isn’t much of a draw, and I’m still not quite sure what the meaning of “Isolation99″ is, but the rest of the song is worth jamming to.

I wonder whether resequencing may have been in order. “Relics” feels too slow to follow “I’m On My Way”, even given the unusual and interesting way that ended. An additional atmospheric segment may have been called for here to split the feel of the
two songs, and to a greater degree, bracket off “Relics” and “Best Friend” from the more dance-beat/groove songs.

Overall, I’d have to say a lot of the tracks, particularly those I listed as gems, could easily pass for more traditional rock & roll with some synth influence instead of the opposite.

Rating: If each gem is a Pope, plus a bonus Pope for the two interesting tracks, TUiE easily hits the 5 Pope ceiling.