There was an op-ed piece in Magnet a few years ago about what Apple’s Garage Band would mean for reviewers. The writer’s position was that the proliferation of home recording software would lead to massive amounts of sub-par homebrewed efforts finding their way into his review pile. Although he didn’t know it at the time, the writer was specifically talking about THE SECRET HANDSHAKE’S ‘Summer of ’98′ EP.

The greatest failing of the record isn’t the songs, its the motif. The songs are a Drive-Thru interpretation of The Postal Service done by someone that most likely got their hands on a sequencer less than two years ago. One of the easy pitfalls of an electronic album is the reliance on stock sounds that prevent the group from setting a defined sound. THE SECRET HANDSHAKE is quick to use vocoder style vocals a la HELLOGOODBYE, DAFT PUNK, and CHER. Futhermore, the simplicity of the sequencing and the lack of any organic instrumentation leaves the songs feeling even more sterile and lifeless then the debut HEAVENS album.

Whereas THE FAINT, TEAM GOLDIE, and SUPERSYSTEM bring life to their largely electronic offerings with a smattering of hand plucked instrumentation THE SECRET HANDSHAKE soley rely on computerized instrumentation, even when attempting a breakdown. Needless to say, the breakdown is quite laughable. The only problem with writing this album off is that songs like the title track are good songs, they are just trapped in limp bodies.

Perhaps the one thing that can be taken away from listening to this album though is the fact that although making a POSTAL SERVICE album may seem easy, it surely isn’t. The songs on ‘The Summer of 98′ EP would pass for stellar demos, but fail as a final product.

Triple Crown

www.triplecrownrecords.com