Paulson

Item: Variations
Author: Justin Brinker

Variations

(2004)

Reviewed by Justin Brinker

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Label Initial RecordsDecapolisSeptember 2004

alternative rock indie rock progressive rock

Okay so I have had the Paulson debut album for a few weeks and I am still at a loss for words on how to review this. I have listened to it repeatedly and have tried to critically pick it apart but to no avail. For those of you unfamiliar with the band, they are a five-piece rock band from New Jersey. They recently released their debut full-length on Initial Records entitled, Variations, it consists of six tracks from their E.P. Variations On A Theme with four new songs.

Paulson's sound is somewhere between Incubus, at times, to Failure, go figure. In fact you would be hard pressed to nail down their sound, which can be a good thing. The reason I have thrown in the Incubus reference is due mostly in part to their tappy jazz-influenced drum parts that are found throughout Variations. For instance it is this rhythm section that drives much of the album and is most notable in tracks like "A Great Pretending" and "Nightfall." Paulson also meanders in the progressive rock arena but not enough to merit this as an integral part to the record. Things slow down a bit with the cover "My Funny Valentine" an acoustic driven number, and the mid-tempo pace continues until things pick back up with "Feast Or Famine."

Paulson does try to spice things up a little with computer-generated vocals. "Most Unfortunate" starts out with just Logan and these vocals and unfortunately it just doesn't sound right, but it is a nice change of pace. The main problem with Variations is the band struggles with identity. They sound way too much like most of what is going on in "modern rock" today and try different things to separate themselves from the pack but usually come up empty handed. Considering that most of "modern rock" is extremely boring this should give you some kind of gauge of what you can expect from Variations.

1.5/4