There's definitely something wrong with the new Figurines record. Ok, sure, the tunes aren't as fetching as they were on last year's Skeleton or even their debut, Shake a Mountain (2003). But that's expected, right? Follow up the Meph Mouse hi-jinx with something slower, something that makes people like me think up synonyms for words like "considered" and "ripe." All's well. The Figurines could put out an album of Sinatra throwbacks, maybe even release a redux cover version of Pussy Cats (2006) for all I care. They're a good band; they just might make shit like that work. The truth is that there'd be nothing wrong with them putting out their mature thesis, the cultivated Joneses of the catalogue -- there would be nothing wrong with any of this -- if most of it didn't sound like an afterthought consummate. If most of it didn't sound like When The Deer Wore Blue.

The track that perhaps best exemplifies this fundamental error is "Bee Dee." It manages to sound nothing like the rest of Deer -- setting off at a preppy pace, switching instantaneously to lightspeed for a chorus of coveted spazz where the rest of the record kind of bumbles and trolls. Except, like the rest of Deer, the effect is unilateral and flat, polite even. The core aesthetic that enlivened past favourites like "Continuous Songs" and "Rivalry" -- that there were, you know, real live people shaping the song -- is dulled here. The band doesn't breathe life into the bones of a potentially amazing song; they become the slave and servant of its mechanics. The guitars are see-saw spiky, there's a catchy organ bit cutting into every verse: it sounds like it should be exciting. Turns out the group isn't excited enough.

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