Teith, Oak City EP

You have to love that the band Teith explains that their name is pronounced “Keith,” as in Carradine, Richards, and Sweat. Makes me laugh everytime.

The Oak City EP is the re-release of the band’s demo that made the MySpace rounds a while back. It’s a four-track instrumental offering that seems like it was born out of a computer rather than a band room. Musically, it’s led by fuzzed-out guitars with intermittent keyboard lines. It has a stream-of-consciousness feel that overpowers its cleverness with a feeling of “I’m so clever”-ness.

You can sense that there is a method to the madness, that it is part of one big picture, a musical screenplay, if you will. In theory, that sounds good if you could pull it off. Every song seems to have its moments of brilliance but still seems incomplete or unfinished. It seems to click best when they put down the dissonance and allow the melody and noise to blend together.

Even though Oak City is only a four-track EP, it requires a lot of work from the listener. And the payoff may not be worth the effort.