Desert City Soundtrack - Perfect Addiction / 2005 Deep Elm / 12 Tracks / http://www.desertcitysoundtrack.com / http://www.deepelm.com / Reviewed 29 August 2005
The harsh sound that opens up “Perfect Addiction” is quite unlike the driving beats that were oh so present during the band’s previous album “Funeral Car”. The piercing sound of the piano during the disc’s opening track “Last Nights Floor” is mirrored by the synth in the morbid-dance sound of “Let’s Throw Knives”. Something present during the first few tracks of “Perfect Addiction” is a style of melodrama that pushes listeners over the edge while tying them ever closer to the style of music that Desert City Soundtrack plays. There is absolutely no way to accurately categorize the music that comes forward from the speakers during tracks like “Playing The Martyr”.
Chaos is the ruler of the disc, and specifically during that track Radiohead (OK Computer-esque) guitars mix with Guns ‘N’ Roses (“November Rain”) piano to make a distorted, compelling mess. Each of the tracks on “Perfect Addiction” bring something different to the mix, with perhaps the greatest of the tracks being the completely emotive and enchanting “Whatever The Cost”. If Desert City Soundtrack was to make it big based on the success of one track (say if The OC prominently featured it on an episode), the very college-rock laced “Whatever The Cost” would be the choice. The atmosphere that Desert City Soundtrack incorporates into each and every track on “Perfect Addiction” is easily equitable to the a mix-up of the best atmospheric composers (Vangelis) and the most emotive brands of bands (Dag Nasty, Fugazi).
The dreamy vocals of the band during “First Sickness” really allow individuals listening in to finally begin seeing the disc not as a collection of songs culled from umpteen studio sessions but rather a story with different chapters. While things were going decently for the protagonist during “First Sickness”, the turmoil expressed during the opening of the following track “Mothball Fleet” really makes it feel as if our hero is aimlessly searching for the path home. Each piece of music that Desert City Soundtrack has played to a completely different audience; the music on “Perfect Addiction”, when compared to the rest of the band’s corpus can only be compared with previous recordings by the similar care that each disc had imbued on it during creation. Where disc usually have one or two weak tracks amongst their midst, “Perfect Addiction” has tracks that work perfectly together and will not provide the listener with a lick of disappointment.
Top Tracks: Its Not That Bad, No Signal
Rating: 7.0/10