The lovechild of Radiohead and Coldplay

Who would have thought that evil would be propagated by fluid cello and tinkling piano lines. Bloomington's Murder By Death (formerly Little Joe Gould) takes a fascination with fire and darkness to a beautiful level in Like the Exorcist, But More Breakdancing, a spring release, if only falling somewhat short it's potential. Weird how the kindhearted directors of Octopus Palace seem fascinated with darkness. With an instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and cello, the band's structure leads to a more refreshing take on the ethereal side of indie rock (aside from a predictable addition of a few drum machine loops and samples). The thing is, despite the great start, the songs end up sounding the same after a while and become more forgettable than transcendent. Listeners can guess the builds that are coming. Lyrically, Adam Turla spins interesting phrases mostly, but for example, lets jilted lyrics about a drama queen make him seem deathly 20-something. It's an easy album to sink into, which is good. Hopefully, with time the band will make a record as captivating as it's live show, which is more interesting than comfortable.