Truly
- Fast Stories... From Kid Coma By Ted Watts
Made up of one time members of both Screaming Trees and Soundgarden, Truly
is quite possibly the embodiment of the promise of Seattle. But "Fast Stories...
From Kid Coma" took them four years to complete and they have thus avoided being
a visible Seattle band. But recording songs periodically over the space of years
gives the album a certain diversity in sound which is always helpful in liking
a CD.
This album gives the impression of containing the best aspects of Kiss and
the Beach Boys mixed with a generous portion of fatigue to slow it all down.
The surfy guitars and eerie low-end parts of "If You Don't Let it Die" coexist
with the violin synthesizer and droning beat of "Hot Summer 1991." The album
leaps from style to style, but retains a unity of sound, a certain drowned under
the bass impression mixed with vintage keyboard elements, which separates it
from most anything else around today.
At times the songs do go on a bit. The eight minute long "Hurricane Dance"
gets a bit tiresome, and the 11 minute "Chlorine" even more so. But if you are
in the proper mood, such sonic experiments can be comforting bits of beauty.
They are essentially different from the gently hammering tracks found on much
of the remainder of the album. But that's all right. The album's variety is
part of what makes it cool.