Quarter Acre Lifestyle

The second album from the now globally scattered Kiwi band Quarter Acre Lifestyle is in many ways summed up by the first track. On "Captains of Industry,” glitchy industrial beats take on a dark atmospheric state and riffing, overdriven guitars come in quite unexpectedly, but with an ominous sense for the possible depths that the music may delve into. Reaching a breakdown, it then surprisingly continues to restate what seemed to be a build up, repeating this once more but never developing its initial promise. A lot of these principles resonate throughout, and though the addition of vocals on most of the tracks provide better structure, Kristin Brown’s voice never settles with any of the variations the music takes on and the lyrics fail to break through with powerful meaning. The band display a wide array of influences, with tinges of Incubus funky alt-rock, emo stylings, poppier Maroon 5 tracks like "Not Too Keen on That View” and bleaker visions, such as the Radiohead tonality of "Cold Heart.” There are some interesting ideas and very nice sections in most of the tracks but as a whole, the sound of the project comes across as very convoluted and doesn’t manage to coalesce.