Picastro- Metal Cares/Polyvinyl
released 25 March 2005 reviewed 1 November 2005 by Matt Rubin mrubin1@stanford.edu (in training)

dark, string-laden post-folk from canada. kinda sounds like mogwai's quieter moments (think EP+2) but with a deep-voiced girl singer. Same aura as but MUCH less bombast and grandeur then that whole cold-weather post-rock thing- i guess you'd call it sadcore if you had to label. singer sounds kinda like pj harvey but doesn't really ever get as loud or out of control. definitely mood music for the sad, feeling low crowd. vocals toe the line between profound and pretentious, but ultimately make it out ok. album avoids coming across as typical thanks to very tactfully used weirdo sounds in the background and very prominent but strikingly beautiful string arrangements. if you like to be sad but be interesting about it, this record is for you. FCC clean.

recommended: track 1 (very pretty), track 3 (good energy), track 6 (a little happier and my favorite), track 9 (sleepy but engaging, odder than the rest)

track 1- opens with with acoustic guitar/cello of the sombre not corny style, very mellow and pretty. joined by some nice glockenspiel action, other atmospheric random indie scraping sounds that don't sound forced like that stuff often can. (5:00)

track 2- nice slightly distorted and atonal vocals plus distant-sounding, out of tune piano...you know, that whole "we put a mic in the room and played grandpa's piano but made it sound cool and tragic" thing. bass enters and it settles into slightly more discernible 4 chord refrain before ending quickly. (1:40)

track 3- more traditional beat driven, dark and moody and rocker. violin in the minor key accompanying. kinda reminds me of "nude as the news" by cat power without the irreverence and more moan than scream. (5:06)

track 4- also sounds like cat power. acoustic two-note picking in the minor key with some seemingly out-of-place cello and violin in spots. pretty violent lyrics, e.g. "just think of me as hitting you back" and other combative lines. gets louder and weirder thanks to some drums, screaming and sliding/slithering strings towards the end. (4:40)

track 5- slow and drudge-y. slightly math-rock drums throughout keep it interesting. (5:06)

track 6- happier vibe! breathy but melodic vocals + almost poppy picking then strumming on the nylon-stringer, with quiet but funky synth in background. then at around one minute its all joined by lots of white noise for a sec, then back to repeat that whole process again. cool! (4:13)

track 7- cool electric papa-m like figure repeats, joined by drums/acoustic, then strings. gypsy vibe. vox enter/leave nicely with quiet falsetto. repetitive though until nice little stripped-down coda. (2:48)

track 8- sound just like pj harvey is this desire era. dark guitar picking and unstable vocals, joined by random-ish but cool consistently out-of-time drums at times. one figure the whole time. (2:26)

track 9- starts with reverb-ed piano (like track 2) + screechy strings. teetering falsetto without discernible words. eerily hypnotic. (2:03)

track 10- dark waltz. guitar in 3/4, drum rolls, and lazy lo-fi electric lead line. ends with a nice, tenuous string duet. (5:10)