Walking Bicycles: To Him That Wills the Way

On Walking Bicycles’ To Him That Wills the Way, Jason Leather’s muscular bass work serves as the primary melodic instrument in the mix, rumbling and ascending in a sea of distortion and ill-defined guitar tones that function more as sonic textures than anything resembling coherent fretwork. Vocalist Jocelyn Summers possesses a voice that bears an often unsettling tonal resemblance to Perry Farrell which, when taken as a whole, often leaves this Chicago-based quartet’s latest release sounding like the work of a Jane’s Addiction cover band focused on that group’s earlier, nosier, heavier material.

All songs here are fairly short, occasionally hook-y (“Eyesore” in particular serves as one of the album’s de facto standouts), but all too often ending just as they seem to be gaining momentum. While not bad, and certainly possessing an admirable amount of energy throughout, the songs on To Him That Wills the Way simply tend to lack any sort of discernible difference or lasting impact that, even upon repeated listens fail to fully grasp the listener’s attention. Somewhat faceless indie rock of the vaguely psych, vaguely doom, vaguely vague varietal.