Should - A Folding Sieve

by Chris Jones

published: 8 / 5 / 2002

Label: Words On Music
Format: CD

Lush and beautiful re-release/compilation by the American shoegazing band, Should

Review

This is an interesting re-release/compilation that contains songs recorded between 1993 and 1997. 'A Folding Sieve' was the name of a CD released under the band's original name of Shift on the Austin label ND in 1994. The songs from that CD comprise the first 7 songs of this new 'A Folding Sieve' CD. Twoothers are from a 7" released by ND in 1997. There are four previously unreleased tracks, and there is a cool cover of the 18th Dye's 'Merger'. Shift changed their name to Should after, I believe, learning there was another Shift out there. They also moved from ND to the Minneapolis based Words on Music label. In 1998 they released the album 'Feed like Fishes' which I remember playing fairly often on my college radio show - it has a great cover of the Wedding Present's 'Spangle' and a fabulous dream-pop song called "Sarah Missing' that should not be missed. The opening track "Rolling' on "A Folding Sieve' has some almost eerie, minimal piano playing and a deep electronic hum that reminds me of the feel of the movie Bladerunner. The female vocals fit in with that theme as well. The song has an almost hypnotic effect. 'Breathe Salt' and "Feels like Morning' rev up the guitars a bit and have that enveloping, wall of sound feel, and while the guitars could easily overpower the songs if allowed to, they never do. The vocals provided by the Ostermeier brothers and Tanya Maus have a fantastic dreamy quality to them and are neither buried in the mix nor pushed too far forward. The female and male vocals on the track 'Clean' meanwhile blend together perfectly. The tempo of most of the songs on this CD is quite slow, which adds to the dreamy/hypnotic tone of the album. Depending on the volume at which you play the songs, they can be either perfect for falling asleep to or whirling like a Dervish. The songs on this album capture the lushness and beauty that fuzzed out guitars can create when placed in the proper hands. And while the better known shoegazing bands tended to be from the UK (Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine etc), Should hold their own quite well and this compilation may let more people know that.

Track Listing:-

1 Rolling
2 Breathe Salt
3 Feels Like Morning
4 Clean
5 Resonate
6 Pulling
7 Strength
8 Own Two Feet
9 Soothed
10 This House I'm Living In
11 Inst1
12 Faded
13 Singe
14 Merger