Mean Red Spiders

Whether directly attributable to line-up changes or merely the restlessness that comes with "experience," Still Life Fast Moving fittingly sounds like a band fidgeting in place, flitting between sounds while keeping their stylistic bearings, for the most part. As much as the slower numbers tend to lose the momentum established by those songs that stick closer to the standard Spiders speed-jangle formula, such changes of pace as the dynamics play on "Declaration" or the tinny AM mid-tempo soul beat on "Turn Walk Away" tread the line nicely. Perhaps the band's recent slight reconfiguration of their sound can be most succinctly summed up in the manner in which on the ballad-y "The New Nostalgia" the processed guitar washes that enter near song's end merely nudge their way in, careful not to crowd out any cleaner articulations in the mix. The haze may have started to clear by now, but thankfully enough of it remains to breathe some life into the proceedings.