Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Indie Rock
Label Number: TG249CD
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.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile© 2003 Touch & Go
AllMusic Review by Heather PharesArriving just over a year after the excellent
High Society,
Hocus Pocus is
Enon's
attempt to sum up where it has been on its previous albums and strike
out in new directions at the same time. These contradictory impulses
result in an album that's a musical tug-of-war: while many of
Hocus Pocus' tracks sound like pleasant but not especially distinctive reworks of
High Society songs, there are almost as many that suggest
Enon
is moving in some intriguing new directions. While there's nothing
inherently wrong with "Spanish Boots"' good-natured indie rock or
"Shave"'s atmospheric, Asian-influenced new wave, it tends to sound like
slight variations on
High Society's
"Window Display" and the band's breakout hit "In This City,"
respectively. Unfortunately, this problem plagues a good portion of the
album: songs like the pretty but vague "Monsoon" and the meandering
"Storm the Gates" sound underdeveloped, like outtakes from
High Society with all of that album's tension and weirdness removed.
Hocus Pocus
also suffers from some strange sequencing: most of its quieter numbers
are placed near the beginning of the album and the louder tracks are
dumped anticlimactically near the end. Compounding the problem is the
album's somewhat subdued production, which gives an overly detached
feeling to potentially powerful tracks like "Litter in the Glitter."
Still,
Hocus Pocus' best songs make it a difficult album to dismiss entirely; and, as with the previous album,
Toko Yasuda's
bright, fresh-sounding vocals are at least partly responsible for some
of its most distinctive moments. "Daughter in the House of Fools" is one
of
Enon's best songs to date, with junkyard percussion and flitting electronics providing a bouncy, playful showcase for
Yasuda's
vocals. Likewise, "Mika Zuki" is equal parts beauty and whimsy, a mix
of traditional Japanese music, electronica, and a bit of exotica.
They're different than anything
Enon has tried before, suggesting a new realm of possibilities for the band. Other
Hocus Pocus
tracks offer more subtle innovations: the swooningly romantic new wave
duet "Candy" and the title track wander into love song territory, while
the sleek, creepy "Murder Sounds" reveals a newfound flair for the
dramatic. Meanwhile, songs like "The Power of Yawning" and "Starcastic"
bookend the album with the immediacy and bite that is largely missing
from the rest of the album. As promising as it is inconsistent,
Hocus Pocus may not be
Enon's strongest album, but it's still a fairly interesting one.
