Band Name: Standish Arms
Album Name: The Reasoning Engine
Best Element: Perceptive and catchy lyrics infused with pop melodies.
Genre: Indie/Pop/Folk.
Website: http://www.myspace.com/standisharms, http://www.standisharms.com.
Label Name: OTP Records
Email: brad@standisharms.com.
Vacillating between surprising brilliance and heart-rending cynicism, Standish Arms’ first full-length release The Reasoning Engineis brimming with pop hooks and riddled with witty lines. From the country swing, do-do-dos and snaps of “Binary Cold” to the unfailingly sing-able “Great Lengths” to the many other foot-tapping melodies and well-placed pauses, The Reasoning Engine is one of those discs I found myself leaving in the car CD player. Brad Caliman is the soul of Standish Arms, a project that has grown from bedroom four-tracks and snippets of “captured noise” into a viable full band.
My favorite track “Great Lengths” develops from a simple guitar and trumpet gliding over a muted drum kit. Caliman’s lyrics truly shape the song, as a line referencing a ballerina devolves into a few waltzing bars before returning to the initial mood. A verbal metaphor turned rhythmic… sheer brilliance! Following this, a snare build-up is eclipsed by guitars and a full ensemble as Caliman wails his most powerfully memorable lines: “We’ll go / to great lengths / our heads / we can’t escape / talking circles / voices are powerless / we can’t find a purpose / but we’re hopeful / ever hopeful / we will compromise.”
Where The Reasoning Engine falls a bit short is the wavering ability of Caliman to hold the notes he writes. Brad Caliman’s voice—at times a bit overly airy for the punk-tinged guitar lines—hovers lightly over sometimes bitter, often rhythmically syncopated, always penetrating lyrics. Whether his near-misses are intentional or not, we cannot tell. This isn’t horribly noticeable, and what is lacking in this department is made up for in the penetratingly honest words and irresistible pop feel of the entire album. I think with a bit of polishing, this project has a chance to break from the ranks of also-rans and radio-station dust-collectors; anyone who can compose songs as Caliman does certainly has a future in songwriting.
Where many singer-songwriters have difficulty prying poetic phrases into their songs, lyrical gems seem to be Caliman’s standard fare. Wordplay dominates the songs on The Reasoning Engine. From slant-rhymes cutting through “Stack the Facts” (“both rooms reek the perfume / of smoke from the jokes next door”) to the sensitively honest “Blinders” (“…couples so closely bound / parading insecurities all over town / what would you do for a hand to hold? / a 98.6 to keep your 97 from cold?”) to his ability to create mood through sensory associations in “Two Birds in a Flock” (“…Eskimo kiss, passionless / polar cap landing / regardless, still standing / regardless, still standing up”), Caliman is certainly a songwriter to look out for.
With some vocal polishing and a continued development, I see Standish Arms becoming a very good band. Fortunately they’re young, and haven’t reached their potential. Consider me interested.
-Tim Avery
the_kitchen_sinks@yahoo.com