The Fratellis
Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied
COOKING VINYL
3/10
Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied is not only the title of The Fratellis’ fourth full-length album, it’s also an apt description of how said album leaves the listener. The Fratellis place (Glasgow) and time (2007-ish) once worked to their advantage, but with this, their third LP, their refusal to evolve beyond their origins is only hurting them. Even when this album offers a glimmer of melody that isn’t some inane and horrendous circus-organ grind of piano and fuzzy bass—“Baby Don’t You Lie To Me!” and “Me and The Devil”—it’s still nothing to write home about. At least “Thief”’s vocal riff of “ah, ah, ah-ah, ah ah” saves the listener from absorbing Jon Fratelli’s torturous lyrics. If you took everything that mid-2000s indie rock left behind and put it together in one disjointed package, you’d end up with this album. Intensely unpleasant.
