This is the only full length LP available on vinyl from Kansas City's Reflector. Despite being the little guys in town, they do a solid job of filling out an entire LP. I tend to enjoy their Prelude to Novelty album a bit more, but both full length albums are pretty interchangeable and represent the band well.
This one was recorded by Alex Brahl and it shows. When the Shiner guys recorded the band, they may have overstepped the band's ability, I mean, they were just a three-piece and while they owed obvious influence to that band, they weren't writing math rock songs. Brahl was able to calm the band down a bit and not lose that KC post-hardcore sound that the band was built around. Previous efforts by the band felt tense and bottled up. Brahl was able to soften some of the edges and even got the cello thrown in as a backdrop on a tune.
They even managed to get some soul into these tunes, not that it's dance-able, but the band was getting away from the discordant Slint-dynamics they previously relied on. The first song, "Spell" is prime example, a midst the starts and stops, Jake Cardwell was able to catch a steady groove that moves the song. They still got intense, the song "Alice" is a monster despite it's ballad-esque beginnings and ends with a slow moving segue into an actual ballad and the last song, "Flowers," which is one of my personal favorites from the band.
Spell
Flowers
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