Comparison of talent is a tricky mistress. After hearing a sample of Macaroni Union's Distance, I took a gamble on other reviewer's comparisons to Mogwai and other noise outfits. This proved faulty. While Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Mono and etc. use building and quiet to loud ratios to accentuate a certain mood and tempo, Macaroni Union use a simpler, more formulaic sensibility. They are in a constant fixation with the sound of neutrality.
Allow me to explain. It seems more likely that the aforementioned comparison bands would try and manipulate their sound for meaning—some sort of completion or arrival point. Take, for instance, Mono's You Are There as an example at arrival. Each song plays off of the last to create an atmosphere of forlorn responsibility—a Hemingway-like responsibility to the reader to understand their place in the song. Macaroni Union's stab at this falls flat. Their song titles are vague and perplexing—"Buildings and People," "Sleepless," and "Suburb27," serve as the overall filler titles to an excruciating and vague (not to mention uncharismatic) experiment in unwavering tempo. Vague, point of fact, is the perfect word. There is no real attachment assigned to these titles—no meaning to the journey. The emptiness of Macaroni Union's Distance is just that—it's distance.
The movement in the songs is subtle and lacks character as well. The progressions are few and far between it seems—not that aren't progressions per se—they are just unnoticed upon even multiple listens. Pointedly, I searched for excuses for why Macaroni Union would bear comparisons to such wildly specific bands and I pinpointed a reason other than their entirely instrumental sound. Every band listed seems to revolve around idea and story, yet the finality of understanding revolves around the listener's willingness to process the information—this is the ultimate listener evaluation for an instrumental band. Can the listener wade through your continual assault of repetition and lack of connection? Can the literal translation of music become insistent enough to suck the listener in? Does the movement have a reverie or reference in mind? In the case of Macaroni Union, the titles suggest reference to a busy and believable lifestyle but never follow through.
Therein lies the difference. A supposition of talent that never comes to fruition is never a distinctly terrible thing, and in Macaroni Union's Distance, the talent exists. In fact it makes for interesting and not overbearing music. Unfortunately, it never materializes into anything worth investing time in or a convincing juggernaut comparable to such weighty names as listed above. Such is the nature of comparison. |