Maserati
(Temporary Residence)
Maserati's latest begins with the stately pulse and disembodied roar of "Who Can Find the Beast?," layers of synths piled atop each other until the roar morphs into a single cry of grief. It's an opening well-suited for an album with a pall hanging over it - the sudden death of drummer Jerry Fuchs in 2009 nearly derailed not just the record, but Maserati's decade-old tenure as well. Noted for his Disco and motorik skills behind the kit, Fuchs' propulsive time-keeping on the two previous Maserati full-lengths - he also drummed for !!!, The Juan MacLean, and Turing Machine, among others -- had been an integral element in the band's turn from its Tortoise-inflected post-rock beginnings to the more Krautrock and dance punk orientation of its live gigs.
Pyramid, though, pushes that schematic into the red with diminishing returns. Fuchs' impressive percussion fuels each song's rhythmic thrum, but the tempos hardly vary and the guitar-delay overlaps here - especially on the title track -- lack the key variations that characterized much of 2007's standout Invention for the New Season. Instead, Maserati eschews subtle alterations in favor of droning repetition. The high-speed "We Got the System to Fight the System" tilts fusion-y - is that Wired-era Jeff Beck on guitar? - and has a slightly prog-metal, keyboards-heavy doppelganger in "They'll No More Suffer From Hunger." (That track and the more dance-oriented, high hat-centric "They'll No More Suffer from Thirst" allude to Fuchs' death while at a charity event for underprivileged children in India.) Closing the album is the record's best cut, the bittersweet "Bye M'Friend, Goodbye," the final track written and recorded with Fuchs.
Where the rest of Pyramid seems in a hurry to get nowhere, the genial unfurling of this soaring motorik/punk elegy - think Wipers and Neu! bunking up - sets up enough contrast to highlight both ends of the spectrum as the song hurtles toward its conclusion. With Fuchs absolutely punishing the pace, the guitars careen toward the finishing line like NASCAR racers drafting and banging at the checkered flag, the track wistfully fading to black. It's one of Maserati's most sublime moments, and serves as both a marvelous reminder of Fuchs's brilliance and the rest of the record's game but ultimately ineffective attempts at epitaph.
DOWNLOAD: "Bye M'Friend, Goodbye" "Who Can Find the Beast?" JOHN SCHACHT
