Saddle up
The front man of the rather clunky named Now Its Overhead, Andy Lemaster, seems to be a very busy chap of late, when not creating his own music he can be found producing fellow Saddle Creek label mates Bright Eyes and Azure Ray. In addition to this he has recently performed remix duty for REM and bagged the support slot on their UK tour.
"Wait in line" is taken from the LP "Fall back open" and unsurprisingly bares a close resemblance to Conar Oberast's work with the aforementioned Bright Eyes. Marrying a fierce frenetic drumbeat with airy guitar work and electronic bursts it joins the dots between early eighties Indie and its modern day forms. Carried along by the excellently croaky vocals of Lemaster with abstract lyrics that hint at dark themes, it's an assured release that could well gain praise from the same quarters that have recently been comparing Mr Oberest with Bob Dylan.
"Book of love", also included on the EP is a cover of a Magnetic Fields song and is an acoustically bent downbeat affair with some acute lyrics concerning that indefinable thing called luurve.
The Faints version of "Wait in line" drops the hectic drums, replaces them with a hefty Techno kick drum and introduces a metallic razorblade guitar. It's not particularly inspiring and sounds like it was knocked out in a couple of hours. Best to stick with the original.