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MASCARA in the Press, read all about it

THE NOISE Magazine
Boston, MA
December 2005

MASCARA
Mr Fibulis Records
Spell
6 Songs

Chris Mascara is one of Boston's most talented songwriters, and on Spell he seems to engage in what one critic has called "genre clowning." Elvis's Sun sessions; XTC's first two albums; The Turtles, The Beatles, and The Minutemen: all indulged. Some genre spoofery is minimalist; Mascara's is baroque: here, production values reinforce the element of play. The approach works best on the newer songs: on the spooky, lovely, and almost McCartneyesque elegiac "Time Is a Lie," and on the soaring lyric pronunciato "Great Divide." "No Afterlife," perhaps Mascara's best song, has, by contrast, been made less a performer's showcase than an ensemble effort, and I think this variant version suffers in the translation. The outrageously arpeggiated guitar runs and synthesized keyboard horn sections strike me as a foolish attempt at sweetening a rather brave and uncompromising message. However, the dense production on "Percy's Revenge" renders the otherwise jarring and angular composition not only listenable but entertaining. In some respects Spell is a fallback; in others, a brave new direction. Yet the four songs named are compelling simply as straightforward explorations of the writer's labyrinthine emotions, for few artists are better at translating complexity of feeling into music expression.

(Francis DiMenno) *****

*****