Creeper Lagoon "Remember the Future"

This little EP comes as a bit of a shock. Their last album, Take Back The Universe and Give Me Yesterday was a slice of pretty standard, by-the-book alterna-schlock, seemingly ignoring the charm of their debut album, I Become Small and Go. I still wasn't convinced that Creeper's changes were necessarily their doing; after all, I'm sure Dreamworks doesn't keep their brand-new artists on a loose leash. With Remember the Future, the band seems once again to walk away from their previous record, in favor of a more subtle sound. Instead of the guitarworks of their album, they've gone for a much mellower, melancholy sound, all of which have a synth-based heartbeat. They've not gone new wave; they're just experimenting on record, which is perfectly fine with me.

Of course, when your record starts off with a beautiful and sad song like "So Little to Give," it's hard not to be charmed. Self-depreciation aside, the song moves on with a nice little acoustic guitar riff and a singular drum beat, offset with synths, harmony, and a distant, mornful string section. "The Way it Goes" switches the guitars out for a piano, yet the sadness remains. "There's a New Girl" and "Kisses and Pills" alters the sound a little bit, dropping the obvious melancholy for a little bit of hope and a sound that recreates what will happen when Nick Drake rises from the dead and kills Stuart Murdoch with kisses and a drum machine. The only fast-paced rocker on Remember the Future is the closing "Crisis," and while it's similar to what Creeper Lagoon's done before, it sure does stick out like a sore thumb among all the sadness!

Remember the Future is a sad little record, all the songs sound like breakup numbers, and I think that there's something to the all-black artwork. I wouldn't want my heartbreak-soundtrack music any other way. Good job, Creepers! All in all, a nice little record that proves that though some of Creeper Lagoon's soul might have been lost in their last record, they've still not lost the magic that made them the next big thing of 1998.

--Joseph Kyle