Insinuation

The Insinuation EP may be short at only three songs in under eight minutes, but within this small frame group members Lou Barlow and John Davis show exactly why they were one of the more interesting new sounds in the late '90s. The duo yanks the title track to this EP from their excellent full-length album, Dare to Be Surprised, while the other two songs are exclusive to this record. Of the three, "Insinuation" is by far the best song here, functioning as a perfect example of the Folk Implosion's unique style: funky percussive loops, salient bass guitar riffs, minor yet well-positioned guitar usage, subtle synth ambience, smooth vocal harmonies, and catchy choruses. When the duo sticks to their sound as they do on "Insinuation," they create some magnificent songs that work better as singles or EPs than as full-length albums where the homogenous style tends to get a bit monotonous. The guitar-heavy "Keeping Score" only reinforces the fact that these guys know how to write great songs no matter how limited their range of songwriting may be. The instrumental track, "Trail Burn," is pretty much a throwaway though, characterized by its brief masturbatory-guitar wanking. As proved by the success of "Natural One" and the somewhat disappointment of Dare to Be Surprised, Folk Implosion tends to sound best in short doses such as this. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide