Album Review: The Fourth Wall

[SHOEGAZE] For a band that's been around only five years, Portland-via-Hawaii noise-pop group the Fourth Wall has its craft surprisingly well-honed. Its second album, Lovely Violence, is impressively uniform in its spiraling webs of spiky guitar feedback juxtaposed with wistful folk-pop passages, a combination that falls somewhere between the volcanic chaos of David Baker-era Mercury Rev and the casual melancholy of Grandaddy. The moments of sonic bombardment aren't always immediately engaging or cohesive, but when it works, it's highly effective. Frontman Stephen Agustin displays a keen ear for knowing just how much ear-splitting, fuzz-laden pyrotechnics to apply before easing back into a hooky folk-rock chorus. It's by no means groundbreaking, but when you have the discipline to leave enough room for thrashing sonic freak-outs while keeping the record's strong melodies sharply in focus, you're doing something right. 

SEE IT: The Fourth Wall plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with My Body and Doubleplusgood, on Sunday, Aug. 2. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

WWeek 2015