Obits play a kind of loose, garage punk rock style of music. They clearly aren’t concerned with pushing boundaries – much like their first album, Moody, Standard and Poor is a relaxed and un-fussed over album. You can definitely visualise the band recording all of these songs quickly and comfortably in a studio.
Throughout the course of their second album, Obits more often than not bring a pretty raw, emotionally embittered rock sound. Tracks like “Everything Looks Better In The Sun” as well as “Killer” both are propulsive, danceable rockers that are a lot of fun. Their relaxed sound works against them sometimes though, especially on album closer “Blame Myself” that drags out the album and sounds aimless. This is a shame considering the tight thirty-five minute running time and the fact that Obits seemed fuelled by a charmingly agitated and energetic direction for the majority of the album.
In case the title didn’t give it away, this is a fairly embittered album lyrically. Main singer Rick Froberg uses his gravelly and gnarling vocals to match the restless and almost jittery playing of his band mates.
Moody, Standard and Poor won’t win any awards for originality, but I don’t think it cares. While at times Obits don’t sound as tight rhythmically as I wish they were, that is really an inherent feature of this style of music. Considering that this album essentially picks up where their debut left off, who can say whether or not they will experiment or feel compelled to change their sound in any way for future releases. For now though at least, Obits seem perfectly happy delivering solid angst-y rock records.
Wyatt Lawton-Masi
