Blackout Beach — Skin of Evil

Blackout Beach is essentially a solo project by Carey Mercer, who some readers will know from his band Frog Eyes, a Vancouver based outfit. Frog Eyes music is borderline spastic, a wide-eyed multi-directional backdrop for Mercer's wordy, hyper-literate lyrics. The man on his own is similar in some ways to his parent band, but diverges in other instances.

Mercer's lyrics are unmistakably his own, and that's a major plus. He spins a web of tales around the main character of Skin of Evil, Donna, a woman who brings misery and confusion to the men in her life. Which is interesting, since the concept purportedly is based upon the ancient Greek notion of the ideal woman. All of this may sound contradictory, but in fact, Mercer's take on the idea is rich and rewarding. He takes no easy route, instead imbuing each one of these tunes with complex psychology, as only a good story teller can.

The music is dense, more bleak and experimental than one might expect if your only familiarity with Mercer revolves around Frog Eyes. Mercer draws an endless array of sounds from mostly traditional instrumentation, in an effort to create an atmosphere for each piece. There's nothing wrong with that methodology, but in this case, it only works about half of the time. Mercer's music is restless and somewhat at odds with creating an ambient base for these dark tales. The slowed down, dramatic nature of Skin of Evil often comes off as clumsy and ill-fitting, and in fact gets in the way to enjoying his brilliant, poetic words. It's not a total loss, as there are some promising moments on Skin of Evil, and Frog Eyes fans will most likely enjoy this, but let's just consider this a missed opportunity.