What would happen if the dramatic Beatles-channeling trip of the Get Up Kids On A Wire days was married with the Rodgers and Hammerstein/Queen/catchy-as-all-get-out rock of Muse?
You might expect something like Mander Salis. While not as catchy as Absolution, TSTCTC nonetheless present a sturdy batch of tunes. Come meander and shimmy through bright guitars, o indie folk rats, the pied piper is here and he's wearing a crappy acoustic guitar this time in lieu of a pan pipe. And he's producing enough tambourine to pacify the Who fan in all of us.
Pieing and piping aside, it's the effortless, intelligent melodies of the album which form the key to unlock a shining nugget of potential. An Honest Misappropriation of Funds and Of the Threshold of Eternity are strong points. Both have chord progressions and a recognizably signature Clark-Kent-phone-booth major to minor melody transition that proves the questionable maxim true that a young band can already have coherence and intelligent patterns on their first record. The latter of the two tunes is a rootsy acoustic romp complete with egg shaker and jangling bluegrass strumming. Clearly someone was listening to The Essential Simon and Garfunkel when they penned this. It's a beautiful song and when Carl Marshall slips into his falsetto all of Huntsville, AL sighs with pleasure.
Mostly uniform, the album detours towards the end into The Laughing Man. Featuring a different vocalist who mugs somewhat goofily the song is not unpleasant, but nonetheless mediocre and out of place. All is forgiven though as the sprawling and luscious Echolalia follows, a nine-minute opus which possesses the potential to either make one cry or fire up the hookah depending on the mood.
Unpretentious, well-thought out, and original while still recognizable, Mander Salis is a legitimate offering to the indie-folk masses crowding our doorsteps.
2.5/4
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