Model Engine
The Lean Years Tradition
Reviewed by Bruce A. Brown
Every now and then, it's good for a critic to have to pull out a dictionary when writing a review--not for the sake of putting high falootin' words into the text, but for making sure you know what the artist is saying. Model Engine (formerly known as Black Eyed Sceva) frontman Jeremy Post is a guy with a lot to say and he often doesn't express himself in ways you've heard before. Over the past year, Sceva morphed into Model Engine, mostly, according to Post, because they got tired of explaining the name. They also changed drummers and briefly became a four-piece, but reverted to a trio for the finishing of The Lean Years Tradition. While the album title may reflect its contents, there's nothing lean about the individual tracks. Post (guitar, vocals), Brad McCarter (bass, vocals) and new drummer Erik Herzog play very intelligent pop music. Although often likened to The Police, the dissonant yet hooky sounds of XTC might be a better comparison. Herzog's tricky cadences often dictate not only how Post sings but how he constructs his rhyme schemes. Lean Years, with its themes of band dissention ("Weathervanes"), romantic tension ("Scarred But Smarter") and Post's impatient quest for personal holiness ("Drawing Lines"), is not an especially cheerful album, but neither is it morose and depressing. Songs such as "Anonymous F" and "Suture," in particular, borrow liberally from the psalmic tradition of recounting one's woes, then seeking the Lord's help to grow. On only their second full-length album, Post and company successfully walk the line between being clever and too smart for their own good.