In 2005 we saw the amount of instrumental bands coming out rise significantly. Most of these bands either sounded too soft and sparkly (resembling Explosions in the Sky too much) or too over the top and heavy (sharing too much in common with the likes of Isis and Pelican). The Brooklyn quartet, New Electric has found a medium between the heavy and soft in the instrumental realm on this self-titled debut EP.
Formed from the ashes of former bands, New Electric features the principle songwriter of Nakatomi Plaza, Oscar Rodriguez, on guitar. The other three members were students of jazz in college along with Rodriguez, and played in numerous jazz-influenced bands before New Electric. The jazz influence is hardly noticeable, as New Electric plays fuzzed out rock-n-roll more akin to Dinosaur Jr. and Fugazi. Their influences seem to be an amalgamation of 70's prog-rock, mid 90's indie rock, and even late 90's hardcore.
The EP, which only clocks in with four songs in twenty minutes, starts off with the fuzzed out noise and huge sounding tom's that guide "Surf" through it's only riff, lead by the Fugazi-esque bass line of Rodriguez.
The guitars gets more involved on "Don't Send Me Home," but Rodriguez and drummer Liam Hurley still keep the songs going over the Sonic Youth-esque riffs. "Banarchy" New Electric's most straight forward rock song, shares the creativity and originality of the above influences with the riffs of Brian McBrearty and Anthony Pirog being reminiscent of bands like Yes and King Crimson at times.
What many people might be asking after the third song is, "where are vocals?" I too am asking myself why they didn't try to write vocals for this EP. It seems like the only song that stands up on it's own without vocals is "Circus Metal" which moves between the fuzzed out bass lines prevalent throughout the EP and the most spacey guitar riffs on the record, which are also the most impressive and moving.
The musicians in New Electric are really good, and that might be an understatement. The songwriting though seems to fall short at times with repetition bordering on excessive. Also, the deep bass lines begin to wear out their welcome along with overshadowing the guitar playing. The lack of vocals on these mid-paced rock songs also seems to be hindering to the fact that we must rely on the bass most of the time to take us through each movement, and this falls short during most transitions. New Electric has talent, and for a first EP they have shown what kind of musical potential and aptitude they share, but the EP falls short as the songs begin to border becoming repetitious and tiresome.
