#667 Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound

Shellac's debut was a bit one-note; here the evolution doesn't involve adding new notes, but spaces between them. The songwriting has moved past punishing post-punk thrash and into art-rock expanses of uncomfortable silences, passive-aggressive intonations, and ominous notes held as long as every note on At Action Park combined. It results in an album that is decidedly more interesting, if only marginally more enjoyable, and decidedly more successful as art than rock 3.5/5