Animal Hospital

As a Boston area engineer, Kevin Micka has built his reputation as a first-rate loop guru. Guiding guitar, drums and other sound sources through a maze of electronics, he creates vivacious streams of notes that change colour with each new collision. The vivid playfulness of the Books is called to mind as a comparison. For all the high-resolution detail and clever juxtaposition of sounds, Animal Hospital fall prey to a problem that plagues many sound-happy artists: the building, building, building up of many tracks never actually becomes anything more than a foundation to a song. Certain pieces, like "March and June," with its systolic beat, whirring resonance and cooing vocals, promise to swerve but never change their arrow-straight path off into a vanishing point. "Barnyard Creeps" is a latecomer that breaks that tradition, using a gnarled guitar form to force directional shifts. Micka's knack for interesting textures and complementary colours makes the album an easy listen, but one that fails to leave lasting impressions.