The Pocket Gods – Lost / 2004 Self-Released / 6 Tracks / http://www.thepocketgods.com / [email protected] / Reviewed 16 August 2004

Ethereal, open guitar lines that mix The Beatles with Gomez, The Pocket Gods feel perfectly fine meandering through “Lost”, seeming more content to be lost than to have a definite gameplan before going into the disc. The band has adequate shelter (the rich recording), even if they are in a little bit of danger due to having a small amount of provisions (the aforementioned open sound, the guitar/drum dynamic found throughout the disc). Richly layered during the title track, it is precisely when The Pocket Gods layer their guitars and create the illusion that a band of four, five, even six different individuals are working at a track where they become the most compelling. However, the spaces on “Lost” where it is just a guitar, a piano, or a voice are really strained and enervated; the listener is just naturally listening for something else to back the vocals up, and not hearing that, cannot be bothered to continue listening. In fact, the majority of Lost feels as if one or two musicians just didn’t show up to the recording, a common thread linking together the tracks would have to be the incomplete feel of the disc.

Each instrument laid down on “Lost” is expertly played, and many of the tracks on the disc seem ready to be played on British radio, or ported over as the next big thing for the Anglophiles. For something so innocuous and familiar, The Pocket Gods are experts at ensuring that their EP does not veer too near any one style or artist in music, but rather attaining fairly rare status as undefinable in terms of style. At truly epic-length, “Danube”’s 15+ minute runtime passes by in a blink of the eye, owing much of its success to the arrangement of the track, the interplay of the piano and guitar, and ethereal host of instruments. The mixing of this track is so radically different from anything else on “Lost” in that it is warm and welcoming, where the stark, Spartan soundscapes of the rest of the disc push people away at any juncture. The Pocket Gods are where they need to be in terms of musicianship, but really should work on attaining the previously-mentioned warmth of “Danube” in all future recordings. Perhaps adding another member to the mix would help in terms of the blaring lack of noise present on “Lost”; still, The Pocket Gods are nine-tenths of the way to becoming a band who are at the top of what they do.

Top Track: Danube

Rating : 5.1/10