(2008 - Asthmatic Kitty)
The most musically refreshing thing to hear in this day and age is a band who's sound seems to be sired by the actual tasts and sensibilities of it's members. That's how you avoid sounding like generic band x with an adiquate but disposable presence and really make music worth remembering. The bay area trio Cryptacize are like that. Distinctive, individualistic, almost iconoclastic but still perfectly accessable for fans of low-key, melodic indie-pop.
Comprised of Chris Cohen (formerly of Deerhoof and The Curtains), Nedelle Torrisi (Kill Rock Stars solo artist and also formerly of The Curtains) and Michael Carreia on percussion, Cryptacize excell in intimately sparse pop music whose arrangements employ frequent changes in both rhythm and key. The every note in a Cryptacize song is given the space and attention to flourish and the chords allowed to ring out clearly and fully.
Their debut album "Dig That Treasure" finds the trio playing with structure and arrangement in a way that comes across as dramatic but never obtusely so. The melodies progress minimally and unobstructed, occasionally veering off into unexpected new territory as tempos and rhythms change seemingly on impulse. Without ever really raising the volume level Cryptacize constantly remind the listener that the dynamic possibilities of the 3 minute pop song are quite literally limitless.
Tonewise the music's shifts often (even within the songs themselves) from solemn and sparse as in "Water Witching Wishes" and "Stop Watch" to an airily spacious jangle in songs like "Heaven is Human" and "Say You Will". Thematically Cryptacize burn at both ends of the spectrum, from mournful lamentations on the unstoppable passage of time to plafully naive assertions that life is a "Cosmic Singalong".
Hopefully future releases will find Cryptacize exploring structure and arrangement with the same dramatic vigor. There's no reason to think that they won't considering how naturally they meld musically. With a sound that's as well-formed as it is malleable it'll definitely be interesting to see where they go from here.
