Holopaw, Quit +/or Fight

Holopaw is a low-key post-Elliot Smith sextet. The two singers take turns — one sings as if unsure of himself, with a quaver in his voice, and the other sings more assuredly, though not necessarily more loudly. On Quit +/- or Fight, most of their songs are pretty reserved; they do rock on occasion, but even that’s pretty mellow.

A lot of the songs use unusual accents in the melodies, making the songs sound rhythmically more complex than they actually are, which is a nice effect. At other times they use actual different feels or rhythms in the same song to differentiate each part of the song. “Holiday” is a good example of the former, with the music seeming to float above the 3/4 rhythm, especially between phrases of the melody. The sustained keyboard chords and drum fills also contribute to the floating quality. The band also uses real time or feel changes frequently: “Little Shaver” is a good example, cycling between 4/4 and 3/4 parts at various points in the song.

“3-Shy-Cubs” sounds like a quiet anthem, with periodic handclaps and big (well, big for them) keyboard chords, and it eventually turns into more of a real rocker, with distorted guitar way in the background and a guitar solo at the end. “Curious” takes a pretty and seemingly simple song and again, using lots of the same kinds of rhythms in the melody, makes the song even more interesting. “Needle in the Sway” matches an attractive melody with an interesting Papa M-ish guitar part. Some of the songs aren’t quite as interesting, such as “Clearing,” which lacks a strong melody, and “Ghosties,” which is entertaining and provides a change of pace but on which the melody is weak. “Losing Light,” which starts the album off, has a nice rhythm and drive to it, but the melody doesn’t contribute anything.

None of the songs is particularly bad, but since the band tries to be mellow and restrained, that’s what you would expect to hear. They certainly seem to have some potential — they just need to refine it.