Not For Everyone, Just
For You
Eskimo Kiss
By Julia Reidy
Not For Everyone, Just
For You is a workout in recent redux. Chapel Hill band North Elementary’s
fourth full-length recycles, albeit quite competently, so many of the now
clichéd sonic styles found in ‘90s alternative, recalling the likes of Vertical
Horizon, Smashing Pumpkins or Nine Days (leadoff track “Decade Stylin’”). On
first listen it’s easily digestible, even facile, but soon new angles appear.
John Harrison and co. ultimately lend at least a little new perspective to
their alterna-rock forbears, a purposefully uneasy vocal stance atop
traditional chord progressions and creative instrumental mixes.
Overall, however, North Elementary would benefit from
veering a little further off the beaten path. “Tumbleweed Stars,” for example,
matches buried vocals a-la My Bloody Valentine with almost disco drumming, a
smile-inducing choice, but the song structure even through a jammed-out
B-section just begs anticipation.
Still, a few stand-out tracks shake off expectations. “Speed
of Lies” seems to reference Yankee Hotel
Foxtrot-era Wilco in a good way, everything just slightly fuzzed-out and
tuned down. And “Medical Sunset”’s mashup of charming electric organ with “Cult
of Personality”-esque guitar can’t fail to please. Absolutely the most
fascinating moment in the record comes at the beginning of “Ones In Love,” a
haunting, beat-driven track pervaded by clanging percussion. It’s a fresh
sound, a path down which listeners would follow North Elementary, if only they
would take it.
