Woven Bones

In and Out and Back Again (HoZac)

Well, they get an “E” for efficiency: In less than 30 minutes, Woven Bones does what the title of its debut LP advertises. The local trio’s scuzzy surf fuzz does have a certain charm; an EP and handful of 7-inches in the last year demonstrated obvious potential in the current drone-pop craze. Of course, when everybody’s jumping off bridges, one has to come up with a different twist. They try on standouts “Couldn’t Help but Stare” and “7 Year Mirror,” both propulsive but from different tempos. Singer/guitarist Andrew Burr rarely looks up from his tales of boredom and lust, and just once – mainly on Cramps ode “Creepy Bone” – you want him cutting loose with a Lux Interior-style whoop. Something. The reverby viscosity of the guitar, Burr’s repetitive sneer, and the rhythmic, cymbal-less backbeat that anchors every track make for a fun time live, but on disc the songs become indistinguishable. It’s like watching a slide show of vacation photos but every image is the same mountain, just taken from different angles.

**

This article appears in May 28 • 2010.

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