On Four Way Street, Neil Young describes one of his songs as starting out slow and then just fizzling away. After about the 4th time through, I can not think of a better description of Your Children Placate You from Premature Graves. "No Matter What You Do" is a chant based song with un-countable noises and instruments to make a powerful rant. But then "Stigmata #4" has a heavy reliance on piano, and this starts the long drones where the CD kind of fizzles out.
Edward Ka-Spel does his best Syd Barrett imitation throughout and the dark ideas and statements will bring down even the happiest person. "Please Don't Get Me Wrong" and "The Made Man's Manifesto" both have a We Might Be Giants feel to them, but only if The Giants had just watched A Clockwork Orange. "The Island Of Our Dreams" is the most accessible song but still is far from contemporary.
Your Children Placate You from Premature Graves is Art in the media of music. From the beats and electronic drones, the dark lyrics, and the nervous energy throughout, this album is meant to be a portrait, to be admired, discussed, and analyzed. This is not the type of album you put on for background music.
Track Listing
1 Count on Me 1:45
2 No Matter What You Do 6:55
3 Stigmata, Pt. 4 6:55
4 Feathers at Dawn 5:12
5 Please Don't Get Me Wrong 6:36
6 Peace of Mind 5:27
7 The Island of Our Dreams 5:14
8 Bad Hair 7:52
9 The Made Man's Manifesto 7:46
10 A Silver Thread 6:44
11 Your Number 2:44