Lungfish-- Indivisible (Dischord 106)

Lungfish's last album, Sound in Time (also on Dischord), was one of my favorites of last year. A lot of people found the formula irritating one riff and a list of images per song. But I saw each song as a sermon, so the sparseness was part of the medium for me; show me a baroque sermon and I'll show you someone putting his message ahead of the Lord's.

It's nothing compared to Indivisible. If Sound's "X-Ray the Phahroh" sounded like a man falling back to Earth and burning up on re-entry, all of the new album sounds like someone staying up and out there. This record is a Puritan exercise in self-negation. To say it feels lonely doesn't do it justice.

Rumbling chants, lo-fi instrumentals with half-heard mutters, minimalism... this album doesn't rock in the conventional Dischord sense. It doesn't rock in any sense. It does grab you, though. Perfect for those rainy Sunday afternoons, floating in your isolation tank after church.

--- Tyler Magill