American Analog Set: Know By Heart : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

True to its title, American Analog Set's fourth full-length album shows that these Texans know their stuff. And, despite song titles like "Choir Vandals" and "Punk as Fuck," their stuff is still gentle, homemade, lo-fi ditties. Averaging less than three and a half minutes per track, Know by Heart is tighter and more conventional than what AmAnSet fans have come to expect. (By contrast, 1997's From Our Living Room to Yours averages more than five and a half minutes per track). However, by streamlining its craft, the band has lost its heart: moody, meandering grooves. Hypnotic instrumentals such as "Like Foxes Through Fences" have been relegated to interludes to make way for Luna-esque lite rock like "The Postman." And Andrew Kenny's limp vocals coming to the foreground on tracks like "The Kindness of Strangers" and "We're Computerizing and We Just Don't Need You Anymore" -- a sorta even-more-sleep-inducing version of Pink Floyd's "Us and Them" -- don't do the arrangements any favors. Those seeking aural adventures are advised to pick up Through the 90s, AmAnSet's new singles and rarities collection, because Know by Heart is further proof that indie rock just wasn't cut out for this century.

BILL CRANDALL
(September 4, 2001)