Katamine — Lag

Katamine is mainly a one man band starring Israeli Assaf Tager, a session man who has lent his guitar playing talents to recordings by Elliott Smith, Beth Gibbons and Moloko. Lag, Katamine's debut, claims to include a band consisting of Uri Frost on guitar, Haggai Freshtman on drums and Zoe Polanski, credited with vocals, bass and casio. Oddly enough, only three of this disk's ten songs sound like anything more than Assaf Tager playing solo on vocals and guitar. Drums or bass are not evident at any time. The only evidence of additional noises or instrumentation are the backing vocals by Zoe Polanski on Winschester Gun, and subtle noises on Where the Ambulance Rolls and No Wonder We're Damaged.

It's tempting to compare Katamine to Eliott Smith, because of Tager's previous association with him, as well as the fact that the music falls within the singer/songwriter realm. The problem is, there's little evidence that Tager has the songwriting chops required to put together an engaging tune.

All of the songs sound similar to one another, to the point that they begin to blend together after a while. Lag seems intended to be a a dark, heart-wrenching album. Unfortunately though, Tager's voice is entirely deadpan and emotionless from beginning to end. His limited range only adds to the conundrum.

Amid all of the samey originals is a cover of the Butthole Surfers' Creep in the Cellar, from their 1986 album Rembrandt Pussyhorse. The original is a creepy masterpiece of dark psychedelia, a perfect distillation of the Butthole Surfers unique dementia. Katamine's version sounds exactly like every other track on Lag. Tager's arrangement strips the tune of everything that made it unique, and turns it into another of his tedious semi-folk dirges.

Katamine have recently opened for Devendra Banhart, and apparently are working on a new album, to be produced by Wharton Tiers, so someone must see something in this band. It's possible that Lag is just an example of a band that has yet to get the bugs out. As it stands though, the album has little to recommend it.