Paul's Tomb - A Triumph

three years in the making, 'paul's tomb: a triumph' marks frog eyes' thunderous, frantic, fiery return. this is a slow-brewed masterpiece that is unmistakably frog eyes, a new album that was very much worth the wait. on this point we feel unassailable: frog eyes keeps getting better and better. this is an album with weight. it's wrapped in a gauze of fuzz, but a fuzz that's neither yesteryear nor painfully now. 'paul's tomb: a triumph' is neither overly modern nor awkwardly vintage, and it contains a depth and bombast that's not only noticeably absent in frog eyes' previous work, it's absent from most contemporary music. frog eyes are equally informed by scott walker and roxy music, nuggets collections and the everly brothers. but in truth, frog eyes' recordings sound like nothing else but frog eyes. in the past the band has lived in a no-man's-land reserved for musical anomalies, making music championed by discerning critics and discerning artists (fans of mercer's songwriting have included, at one time or another, john darnielle, spencer krug, dan bejar, jonathan meiburg, and carl newman, to name a few). with due respect to the above, the scope and vision of 'paul's tomb: a triumph' is triumphant because it busts so thoroughly out of the ghetto of the clever.