Dance With Your Arms Tucked In: A Quick Review Of The New EP From Mass Observation (Lorelei, Lake Ruth, The New Lines)

Davis White (Lorelei; We Capillaries; The New Lines) and Hewson Chen (Lake Ruth; The New Lines) have joined up forces remotely as a new band called Mass Observation. The group's second EP is up on Bandcamp as of today and it's as spry and percussive and ruminative as one would expect, revealing a restlessness that the two players don't always get a chance to indulge in their other bands.

Opener "Dance with Your Arms Tucked In" hooks up a guitar-line that's part reggae, part Durutti Column with some strong beats from White. The drumming here has that power that Stewart Copleand brought to The Police after they'd shed their punk-y starts, with the disparate stylistic shards of this number anchored by those beats. "Catalog" is a delight, Hewson's vocals rendering this one the cousin of the best from The Clientele, while "The Phylactery of a Political Appointee" reminds me a bit of both O.M.D. and XTC. Chen and White give this a pretty sheen, and the hook unfolds in a lovely fashion, but there's a tension here that suggests something unsettled, with the contrast between the melody and the playing a hypnotic one. "Occupational Therapy" is the one number here that sounds the most like those from The New Lines or Lake Ruth. Even with the expertly mixed drums from Davis White (they sound like they're being hit right behind your head), the track has a gossamer-like glossiness to it that makes it sound like it's floating under Chen's airy vocals. If one hears a faint echo of Fear of Music-era Talking Heads, that's all the better.

These two players are evidently interested in the dexterity of art rock, but they never get lost in their explorations of the form. They are instead trying to make left-of-center pop. During a plague. The material feels like something's a bit off, as if the styles were being forced together, and I liked that vibe a whole lot. Ultimately, the tightness in the grooves, and the obvious hooks, rendered all of this EP compelling for me.

Mass Observation 2 by Mass Observation is up on Bandcamp now via the link below.

More details on The New Lines via the official Facebook page. Start there for now until this duo produces another release.