Shit In The Garden

Kevin Failure has lived everywhere from Green Bay to Brooklyn to Siberia, but decided to return to his native Dairy State (specifically, to Riverwest in Milwaukee) to record chunks of his new six-song LP, Shit In The Garden. The title seems a bit obvious, considering it was Failure who coined the joke-label-taken-seriously-by-the-same-people-who-take-“chillwave”-seriously “shitgaze” for fellow lo-fi noisemakers Psychedelic Horseshit. But there’s nothing wrong with truth in advertising. Like his Psychedelic pals (with whom Failure also had a brief stint as a member), Pink Reason, out of necessity, enthusiasm, or both, pushes against the limitations of lo-fi on Shit, with mixed but captivating results.

Powering through the clunky opening track, “Holding On”—which inexplicably pushes the guitar and vocals below a glitchy, distractingly overpowering drum machine—yields immediate rewards in the codeine-drenched, Joy Division-informed “I Just Leave” and “Sixteen Years.” Failure’s slightly off-key baritone and fuzzed-to-hell guitars join forces with the recording equipment, using the 8-track as another instrument in crafting hauntingly distant soundscapes that crescendo into overwhelming and thrilling, brain-stabbing static freak-outs. The trebly “Cranes Are Flying” adds a welcome touch of ’60s psychedelia, and the dirge “Here On In” leads to what may actually be the album’s strongest track, the closing instrumental “You Can’t Win.” A gorgeously droning banjo melody is accented by a flute breakdown (this is way less lame than that sounds) and basic thigh-slapping percussion, which affixes an eerie, uplifting coda to an otherwise moody outing.

The lo-fi approach to recording definitely hampers the songs in some ways—if you’re hoping to understand any lyrics on Shit In The Garden, good luck—but this is obviously the work of a musician painting with a deliberate palette. There’s magic to be made in conscious limitation, and while portions of Pink Reason’s latest stumble on the way, the moments of revelation far outshine the mistakes.