Glass Eye
Record review
Reviewed by Greg Beets, Fri., April 7, 2006
Glass Eye
Every Woman's Fantasy (RexyRex)
When last heard we from Glass Eye in 1993, fallout from a record deal gone wrong sank the quartet after a decade-long run as Austin's foremost avant-pop enterprise. Although a final LP was planned, it took 13 years for Every Woman's Fantasy to emerge. Given the circumstances of the band's demise, the album's comparatively dark and angry tone isn't surprising. If the stylistic thread connecting Glass Eye to more jagged local contemporaries like Scratch Acid wasn't apparent before, Fantasy brings that connection into sharp relief. Bassist Brian Beattie's growl takes center stage on pile-driving opener "Boring Story," a self-effacing commentary on the band's record nondeal. Guitarist Kathy McCarty sings "My Dog Is Dead" as an aching portrait of grief unfettered by aspirations toward grandiosity. "Exodus Song" is Glass Eye's tweaked variation on the heavy metal epic, the funereal theme returning with added languor on "Sad and Lonely," drummer Scott Marcus' stoic missive from the shattered heart of adolescence. McCarty's Linda Thompson-style folk tangent finally flowers on the dour "Quiet Town," while Beattie's "She's Frozen" utilizes accordion and vibes to effect a morbid Continental tone. This isn't the product of a happy ending, but in veering away from the pop aspirations of 1988's Bent by Nature and 1989's Hello Young Lovers, Every Woman's Fantasy succeeds in fleshing out Glass Eye's legacy by leaving the roughest edges intact.