The Faint - Fasciination

It's a predicament which Professor Chaos (aka Butters) found himself in during a South Park episode. Everything he thought of had been done before in another internationally renowned adult cartoon series.

For Nebraskan residents The Faint, their contemporary arch-nemesis is former label-mate Conor Oberst. For if there was a height of glitched-up indie retro-futuristic dance-rock, then it was surely already hit with "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn".

With "Fasciination", the outfit's first release on their own blank.wav label, things have gotten remarkably stripped down, for the most part consisting of just three or four audio tracks per song. While earlier works of The Faint thrived on the density of their construction, embedding their social-commentary in vast layers of digital noise, this time around, everything the album has to offer is in clear sight.

Can we have a neon sign with the word 'mistake' boldly back-lit in green and orange please? Thank you.

Too much of "Fasciination" hangs on front-man Todd Fink's 'digitised lethargy' vocal delivery and lyrical abilities. While on occasion he does hit the mark, such as the stellar "Machine in the Ghost" which seeks to provide an answer slightly more substantial than '42' to the world.

On the other hand, there's more than a small amount of redundancy present. For instance, are you undecided about the justification of war? Are you unsure as to religions role in starting altercation? Are you teetering on the precipice of decision as to whether the U.S has an international reputation for being just a little too trigger-happy? Are you paying too much for your car insurance? Only if you can answer 'yes' to these questions will "A Battle Hymn For Children" seem relevant. If you answered 'yes' to the last question; stop playing bumper cars on the M1. "You gave us guns for toys / We trained with crosshair scope / That in the name of peace we make war" Wait? So entertainment *is* to blame for rising violence?

In an effort to present every side to each subject they tackle, the band have, unfortunately forgot to pick one. Making themselves the rough equivalent of that annoying school-friend who stood at the sidelines and shouted vague insults to both sides during the pre-fight shove ritual.

Little in the way of spectacle comes from synth-man Jacob Thiele either. His first effort on "Get Seduced" sounds like an Amstrad with severe wind problems. "Fulcrum and Lever" invokes the intro of Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' without ever actually moving past the alternating two-note introduction and elsewhere does little else than imitate a distorted bass-guitar. When embracing the boundless potential of electronic instruments, it seems like an odd decision to limit himself so.