Backseat Dreamer: Love Not Found EP

Backseat Dreamer
Love Not Found EP
Stickfigure
2008-10-28

Sean Neuse’s debut recording under the Backseat Dreamer moniker is most certainly an album best listened to at night: dark rushes of synths collide with the faintest hints of melody, almost as if you tried cross-breeding the glitchy sounds of Germany’s Oval with the earliest recordings that My Bloody Valentine ever put out. Though Neuse’s Love Not Found EP does achieve a solid mood and moments of genuine melodic cohesion (the drum-machine assisted “I Don’t Feel It” makes the sounds of dying siren synths almost comforting), this short EP still can’t overcome the fact that it feels like a series of sketches thrown together — not actual songs. Given that five of the disc’s eight songs are under two minutes (and two of those are under 60 seconds), much of the music seems to drift off into a hazy ether without stimulating or provoking in any way whatsoever (the title track is the worst offender in this case). The late-night driving tune “Untitled Love Song” shows great promise, but, by and large, this soundtrack for midnight melancholy will likely be slept upon for good reason.

RATING 5 / 10