Minus Story My Ion Truss by: Adam Davy Mon:07-May-07 Label: Jagjaguwar Year: 2007 WB rating 52 out of 100

As opposed to a source of interest, I often find mystery to be little more than an exercise in frustration. My Ion Truss is a perfect case in point.

Minus Story’s trademark elliptical style is cryptic at the best of times, and on My Ion Truss, the band demonstrates that they haven’t lost their ambiguous proclivities. From the album title, to the cover art, to the songs themselves; I have spent altogether way too much time attempting to piece together the so-obscure-that-it-hurts puzzle that is My Ion Truss, only to conclude that this album simply isn’t worth the effort. Consequently, I’ve all but tossed My Ion Truss aside, resigned to the fact that in so successfully establishing their shroud of mystery, Minus Story has essentially set in place a virtually impenetrable barrier between their music and my brain. To put it plainly, this record is perhaps best described as a ‘challenging experience’, in so far as it ultimately alienates the listener and prevents any real engagement with the music on all but the most superficial of levels. This is somewhat ironic, considering the band’s reputation for depth and emotional conviction. 

Arguably, when all the pieces fall into place, Minus Story hint at a vulnerable intensity that is moderately appealing. On ‘Stitch Me Up’ for example, the band use an effective musical progression that begins with gentle banjos and ends in a cacophony of fuzzy electric guitars, jangling piano and thumping percussion, the energizing effects of which make it surprisingly easy to share in lead vocalist Jordan Geiger’s spitefully energised determination as he closes the song with a repetitive snarl of “so long”.  However, as compelling as ‘Stitch Me Up’ is, it is perhaps the albums penultimate track ‘Pretty In The Light’ that is most memorable. Essentially a wistful ballad, this compact, yet sweeping epic is inescapably enchanting. Here, an ominous piano-driven introduction unexpectedly gives way to a loping ensemble that ebbs and flows as it gradually builds in distorted intensity. It is a deliberately crafted journey that effectively captures the listener and successfully engages them on an emotional level.

Unfortunately, these two songs are exceptional in that otherwise , My Ion Truss is largely characterized by considerably less successful musical realisations. For example, on tracks such as ‘Parachute’, ‘Aaron’ and ‘Beast at My Side’, Minus Story embrace a free-flowing pseudo-psychedelic musical form that seems to degrade these songs with unnecessary complexity, rather than enhance them in any way. Further complicating matters is the band’s penchant for lyrical ambiguity. As evocative as Geiger stating that he “wants to feel the shape of your heart in space” may be, within the context of My Ion Truss (an album full of such obscure and enigmatic lyrics), his musings simply serve to make the record all the more inaccessible to the listener.

And it’s not just Geiger’s virtually incomprehensible messages that are problematic, but also the way he delivers them. His trembling falsetto is a sticking point throughout, because whilst it is undoubtedly an integral feature of the band’s distinctive sound, his vocal frailties also prove to be one of the band’s greatest limitations. The very nature of his fragile voice means the range of his expressiveness is limited to something approximating emotional duress. Consequently, Minus Story regularly resort to techniques such as vocal distortion and layering, but ultimately not even these can prevent the vocals from becoming predictable, and thus largely uninteresting, well before the end of the record.

The unfortunate result of all this is that songs like the aforementioned ‘Stitch Me Up’ and ‘Pretty In The Light’ lose most of their shine. For, buried as they are within an album of otherwise overworked compositions, their most significant contribution becomes to remind the listener of the subtle strength Minus Story are potentially capable of, yet have so inconsistently achieved on My Ion Truss.

Summarily, this is an album that is characterized by enigmatic mediocrity and an unshakable sense of missed opportunities. With its ambiguous lyrical complexity and potentially insurmountable conceptual opacity, My Ion Truss is a decidedly mysterious release, which suffers greatly from questionably pseudo-psychedelic production values and inconsistencies in the quality of compositions. On this album, Minus Story may well be attempting to mask some deep emotional and/or existential truths, but in the end, the whole endeavor fails to deliver enough to warrant the effort of persevering with the puzzle. There is simply not enough incentive to work at appreciating this moderately interesting album when there are so many other superior productions to enjoy that require far less effort, and provide far greater reward.