An Album That Goes on for Infinity

Evan Sult and Paige Brubeck are two St. Louis natives transplanted from Chicago who make half dreamy piano pop and half jagged blistering rock anthems. These two sides of their band, Sleepy Kitty, are on full display on their first proper full-length Infinity City, and the end result sounds like a band with a bit of a multiple personality disorder. While Brubeck has an appealing voice that isn’t too far removed from Emily Haines of Metric, Infinity City is a bit of a middling success due to the sheer over-length of some of its songs. For instance, “Seventeen” (which is not a cover of the Winger song, or Jet’s, or Ladytron’s for that matter) bludgeons the same fuzzy guitar riff over and over for a full six minutes. The epic piano ballad which follows, “Way Out”, unspools for a full seven and a half minutes, and could have been easily lopped in two. (And speaking of borrowed song titles, “School’s Out” is not a rendering of the classic Alice Cooper track.) As well, the shift between piano-led songs and full-out guitar rockers suggests a band that hasn’t really found its identity yet. However, there are some appealing cuts to be found on Infinity City: the tinkle-tickle of the keys on first song “Gimme a Chantz!” is bright and bouncy, and its follow-up “Speaking Politely” is a rough-and-tumble guitar scortcher that satisfies. It’s just that Infinity City lives up to its name: it goes on for seemingly forever, and is padded out with lengthy filler and songs that don’t serve much of a purpose than to take up dead air. Sleepy Kitty shows some promise, but Infinity City feels like a band trying to figure out how to make a full-length album. All in all, Sleepy Kitty could use an editor.

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