Hocus-Pocus

Enon's _Hocus Pocus_ is an album of quirky, tense pop. Enon is most similar to tightly-wound post-hardcore pop-rock bands like Brainiac, Les Savy Fav, Spoon, and the Oranges Band. Enon, however, is less interested in rocking out or being catchy than in being quirky. Songs are usually made up of a deep groove formed by a big bright sounding hardcorey bass, strange keyboards, and weird noises. Guitars are sometimes noisey, sometimes clean. Many songs feature truly odd instrumental breaks. Vocal duties are shared by John Schmersal who has a typical indie-sounding sensitive-boy voice and Toko Yasuda whose thin little-girl Japanese-informed vocals are often used to great effect.

Not all of the songs cohere, but this is an enjoyable album for a handful of great tracks.

stand-out tracks: 5!, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12

1. funky groove, mid-tempo, female vocals, hand-claps, weird bubbling
keyboards
2. British-sounding male vocals, insistent hardcorey bass, catchy chorus,
maybe Stone Rosesy
3. female/treated male duet, deep groove, tinkling keyboards
4. goofy take on singer-songwriter pop
5. sexy little girl vocals to synthesized groove, fun
6. Lyrics in Japanese, girl vocals to strange Japanese sounding noises
7. Male vocals, sensitive indie-rock
8. Female vocals, bouncy bass groove
9. Male vocals, upbeat dance-punk, reminds me of Hot Hot Heat, Spoon
10. driven mid-tempo indie-pop
11. male vocals, rocking duet, tough
12. rocking hard, very Brainiac
13. acoustic guitar, ballad, quirky instrumental breaks