The Seximals, Always Pithy After Repose

This is a different direction for the Seximals. Whereas their previous album, My Old Problems, was a collection of lo-fi rock songs, Always Pithy After Repose is a collection of sample-based pieces with samples culled from some of the Seximals’ favorite recordings, augmented with some original instrumentation. The samples tend more toward the ambient than, say, hip-hop, so there’s little to break up the looping. The repetition can be a bit much at times, but I like this a lot more than the previous album. It might very well have been easier to create these songs than ones that were made from scratch, but this feels fresher, more interesting, and free of indie-rock clichés. It’s just not the sort of thing that you’ll want to listen to actively. While doing things like driving, though, it’s just the thing. You can tune in and out as you like. I just wish that all spaces that now contain music that should be ambient, but is more often golden oldies or super hits of the seventies, would contain the Seximals instead. I would like to see this replace the background music in malls and grocery stores everywhere. It would make standing in checkout lines so much easier. Until then, though, I’ll have to settle for listening to it in my car. Maybe you should give it a shot, too. Since the samples are unauthorized, The Seximals are giving this album away, rather than selling it. That’s certainly the right price; you can’t really go wrong with free.