Autolux - Transit Transit

Following on from their 2004 debut, ‘Future Perfect’, Californian trio Autolux return with a somewhat softer piece of work in the form of ‘Transit Transit’. Opting for a far more measured sound, the team, headed by the lush vocals of Carla Azar and Eugene Goreshter, tread a fine line of lo-fi indie pop and sombre self pleasuring drudge.

The band are if anything consistent, fusing slightly off-kilter guitar with Sonic Youth-esque musings that are exhibited in the downbeat ‘Census’. Where their debut was a far more raucous affair, the band have shed this rock and roll skin for tempered shoe-gazing that might please some but leave most indifferent.

On ‘Kissproof’ there are hints of life, the drums finally making their belated presence felt, with vocals that sound for the first time like the band members want to sing rather than just repeat what’s on their song sheets. Stop start drums and sliding guitars make for a pleasant and vibrant distraction. Sadly, being already eight tracks in, the resurgence in urgency is too late to save the album from being simply filed away.

The album highlight comes right at the end in the form of ‘The Science of Imaginary Solutions’. A sense of grandeur lifts this finale far above anything that precedes it, as layers of guitar continually build into a near explosive final blow that hints at what the album could and quite possibly should have sounded like. As it stands, ‘Transit Transit’ is a cold collection of songs that fails to engage the listener to any degree.