Anyone who wondered where the fragmented songs and purposefully twisted aural montage went on
Loud Family's second album,
The Tape of Only Linda, will either be elated or annoyed to know they're back in force on the group's third full-length release,
Interbabe Concern. While the edition of
Loud Family that cut
The Tape of Only Linda had been solidified by a solid dose of touring after the release of their first album,
Interbabe Concern was cut with a new lineup in which Scott Miller handled all guitar duties and Kenny Kessel and Dawn Richardson took over on bass and drums (Paul Wieneke remained on keyboards and occasional lead vocals). This new
Loud Family sounded more like Scott Miller's backing band than the group that made the first two albums, and without producer
Mitch Easter on hand, Miller seems to have used
Interbabe Concern as an opportunity to reacquaint himself with the cryptic side of his musical personality; there are a lot more short pseudo-tunes interspersed between the "real" songs, plenty of odd found noises and sound effects, and while Miller plays plenty of guitar here, there's a decidedly lower hard-and-heavy quotient than on the muscular
The Tape of Only Linda.
Interbabe Concern plays like a somewhat stranger version of
Loud Family's debut,
Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things, except that there are fewer memorable songs (there are memorable songs, of course, just not as many), the production has a lot less gloss, and Miller's fondness for chaos seems to outweigh his knack for perfect pop hooks. It's an inarguably interesting album, but one that demands a lot more work for the listener to ferret out the good stuff. In short, it's a lousy starting point for non-fans, and an acquired taste for the initiated. ~ Mark Deming