Released: September 7, 2004
Don’t Cut Your Fabric To This Year’s Fashion starts out well with “This Year’s Fashion,” and “Drug Like,” two of the best of the album. Plenty to listen to in both: Mark Thomas Kluepfel’s vocals, organ, drum, synthesizers, good stuff all around.
They mix it up a bit in the track “Basic Tiny Fragment,” where it starts slow, just a guy with a guitar, then they get wacky and incorporate some yelling. I must say, I was not feeling it in this case. It felt a bit unnecessary and inconsistent and more than a bit grating. The band does better in the next track, “Bleed,” where a little yelling feels more natural in the context of the song. In the name of passionate expression of emotion, I can handle it. But alas, the song that succeeds “Bleed” is “Instructions on Building a Modern Airplane,” and much like the aforementioned “Basic Tiny Fragment,” I cannot endorse this tune either.
The rest of the album proceeds fairly smoothly with an occasional protest. Some good moments occur in a song called, “Broken,” but the same track simultaneously holds some of the most questionable choices on the album. It almost feels like Action Action is trying for too much diversity within the same tune, leaving me enjoying.. hesitating.. forgiving.. finally uncertain. “Four Piece Jigsaw Puzzle” and “Don’t Cut Your Fabric” are welcomed additions because they stay consistent throughout their length, but when compared to each other are varied, both positive aspects.
Overall, Action Action has a lot of good stuff in this record intermixed with a few unflattering moments, making this disc good but not great. I’ll be interested in following the band in their future endeavors to see how they evolve.