San Felix
Fire Island
(Independent)
2/5
Victoria indie-rock group San Felix’s new album, Fire Island, opens with catchy percussion and electric guitar in “I Was a Vulture.” However, the lead vocalist sings like he’s coming down with a cold and the range narrows to the same few notes.
After the first song, the instruments lose their lustre, constantly hinting at some variation to the melody, only to slide back down and get muffled.
The abrupt nonsensical tempo changes in “Day of the Rat” make the hurrying crescendos leading to nowhere sound like bad cut-outs from a completely different song.
In the end we’re left with “Garden Treasures,” a five-minute track with a bland one-minute musical introduction followed by several more drowsy intervals. It was hard to remember most of the music, even while actively trying to listen.