Get Him Eat Him – Arms Down
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Release: June 5, 2007 / Absolutely Kosher
Arms Down is Get Him Eat Him’s follow-up to 2005’s Geography Cones. I’ve been letting this new one sit for a while, hoping I would either grow to love it, or figure out why I don’t. It’s not a bad record, but you know you like an album when, if it were a basket of strawberries at the market, you’d want to take at least some of it home (yes). Arms Down inspired no such greed, so I turned to the albums I do love. These tend to have an unintentional greater idea behind them, the kind that comes together as a result of other intentions and inspirations, the outcome of things falling into place. In Arms Down, that sort of idea is either missing, or, if present, not very alive.
There’s more after the jump.
If we’re to pick things apart, the opening “2×2″ is a fun track. Its main letdown is that the rest of the album doesn’t hold up. Zach Condon’s poppy contribution on the trumpet freshens up the sound a bit, but overall it does little to give the album the sparkle it’s lacking. Besides, despite being a catchy tune, “2×2″ isn’t a song impressive enough to save an entire album.
The charm of popular music is that it need not be intellectual or masterfully played. While great lyrics, spectacular band chemistry and amazing singing voices never fail to excite, none of these qualities are pre-requisites to a great album, nor is unique instrumentation. Various elements, however, need to work together to create something that moves, and in the case of Arms Down, it is the combination of things that doesn’t pull through. Matt LeMay’s nasal voice and gasp-like singing style cannot be held accountable by itself, nor can be the lack of dynamism in the lyrics or the straight-up instrumentation. Together, however, the whole album feels a little premature or hurried. All the songs have promising bits, but they whirl too fast without going anywhere.
