For those of you that remember The Reunion Show it is no secret that they are back in one form or another. From the ashes of TRS and another former Victory band, Count The Stars, has arisen Action Action. Having been heralded as a must have for fans of Depeche Mode, Interpol, and The Faint this album falters in coming anywhere close to the aforementioned band's material yet still manages not to be a complete wreck.
Keyboard/synth driven pop rock is pretty much the foundation for most of the songs on Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion. Right down to the album's hot pink and fluorescent green artwork Action Action tries to embody all things 80's pop music. The problem with this is two fold: they try to emulate way too many different sounds from this era thus making it frustrating for the listener and secondly is vocalist Mark Thomas Kluepfel's melodramatic vocal approach throughout most of the record.
Tracks like "Drug Like" and "The Short Weekend Begins With A Longing" finds the band toying with the sounds of Depeche Mode and The Information Society but with a heavier guitar sound and it works fairly well. The band takes a trip down memory lane a la The Cars with the synth heavy "Photograph." It is tracks like "Let's Never Go To Sleep" and "Broken" where Action Action really shines with a more guitar oriented rock sound like The Rentals where the keyboards are still there but instead accent the guitar parts instead of drowning them out.
The previously mentioned songs carry Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion and when there are thirteen tracks and fifty minutes of music that is not necessarily a good thing. The sluggish "Basic Tiny Fragments" that starts out with just strings and the vocals of Kluepfel never really builds into much despite the dynamics of the swirling distorted guitars that kick in halfway through. The acoustic driven "Four Piece Jigsaw Puzzle" finds the band out of their element while "Eighth Grade Summer Romance" has a great bouncy rock laden verse to pull you in and then falls flat on its face when the chorus rolls around.
I don't know if it is the overly dramatic vocals of Kluepfel or if it is because they are all over the place musically but needless to say I am pretty disappointed in Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion. Action Action flourishes with guitar oriented moog pop rock but when they go outside of that arena they really struggle. Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion has its moments but for the most part falters under its own eclecticism.
2/4
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