Religious services meet
Shine A Light, the second album from Canada's The Constantines, is a mixed bag of songs. Take the opening song "National Hum", for example. Its pure punk influence shines right through, up to the point where it's unclear whether this is a Constantines vocalist or simply Joey Ramone. Of course, it would be impossible for it to actually be Mr. Ramone, but surely you get my point. After listening to "National Hum", you may have heard a Constantines song, but you have certainly not heard the Constantines.
The drum abuse drops away, and as we move into the rest of the album, the band's true sound is revealed.
Some strange bits of random experimentation exist on Shine A Light. The title track itself opens up with half a minute of feedback, and the entire song has church organ keyboarding weaved around the standard rocking. When compared the previous song, "National Hum", it's easy to see how "National Hum" doesn't fit into this album - although it's still a good song.
The rest of the album is filled with a generous portion of melodic guitar parts, some husky vocals, and a general lack of catchy songs. The potential is there, of course, and there's jazz influences hiding within songs, but the Constantines will, without a doubt, not be fully appreciated yet. Songs that should be merited are "Young Lions", "National Hum", "Shine A Light" and "Tiger & Crane".
Disclaimer: The future, as always, is not yet written of course. Therefore, if I'm wrong, lets all pretend demons made me write this. Demons with guns.