Capillary Action

Capillary Action are not for the faint of heart. Capsized is their sophomore album, but there's nothing sophomoric about it ― the band's crazy quilt of influences hangs together better than on their debut. Starting off with a Bartok-inspired trumpet melody, the Action get serious groove with a frenetic Brazilian forró shuffle featuring either a ukulele or its Brazilian counterpart, the cavaquinho. Jonathan Pfeffer's singing is better than on the first record; he's simply more confident singing in an entirely full-throated manner to convey the paranoia, anger, absurdism and hope of the politically charged lyrics. Capillary Action have upped their game creating imaginative polyrhythms, which shift like tectonic plates throughout the course of a three-minute song. And when a groove locks in (which happens at least twice in different ways in a song), it's mesmerizing. Still, accordion, gamelan ingredients and Brazilian mash-ups can get a little overwhelming and wacky, at times. But this happens far less often than on their previous release. This is a big step up for the band.