Number One Fan

Item: Compromises
Author: Bert Gangl

Compromises

(2004)

Reviewed by Bert Gangl

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Label Pat's Record CompanyThe Phantom Tollbooth2003

emo indie rock pop punk

If the word compromises seems like a logical first choice for titling an album filled to overflowing with tales of romantic angst and uncertainty, it simultaneously takes on at least a modicum of irony in light of the circumstances surrounding its creation. Indeed, at a time when other like-minded bands record entire or even multiple albums over the course of a weekend, the 600 hours of studio time racked up by Green Bay-area indie foursome Number One Fan in the production of its first full-length release seems almost obsessive compulsive by comparison. Unsolicited psychoanalysis aside, though, it's hard to argue with the band's unyielding attention to detail when the resulting product is this impressive.

While the Fan collective's wistful, highly introspective lyrical bent owes more than a little to the now admittedly vague emo category, the group tosses in just enough musical curves to keep things interesting. Tracks like "It's Happening" and the equally superb "Nothing Will Change," with their ethereal temperament and highly varying dynamics, run perhaps truest to the emo tag, mirroring the lush, often oblique sonic stylings of artists like Sunny Day Real Estate and The Appleseed Cast. "Don't Say Anything" and "The Prettiest Sin," on the other hand, are stirring combinations of a host of styles including garage rock and classic '70s power pop. And the driving, start-stop, semi-progressive aesthetic of "Can't Forget" makes the best-of-album entry hard to pin down to any particular genre.

Though the Compromises release may not be quite as accessible or instantly memorable, on average, as current efforts from other like-minded outfits such as, say, Holland or Denison Marrs, its songs are graced with a subtle, multi-layered aesthetic that plays out better in the long run, revealing new subtleties with each successive listen. And if singer Nicholas Ziemann's faux British accent and heart-on-a-sleeve delivery tend to draw knowing smiles after a certain point, he and his cohorts nonetheless manage to find their proverbial mark far more often than not, and in so doing, turn out one of the more consistently engaging emo-inclined albums of the year thus far. A genuinely impressive first effort.

4 tocks