Band: Skeletons and the Kings of all Cities.
Album: Lucas
Label: Ghostly International
Reviewed by: Woodstock Slim

With a name almost impossible to remember, which is not far off from the impossible name to remember from what they used to be called before, when they were "Skeletons & The Girl Faced Boys." Phew! In the hands of Matt Mehlan, or shall I say, in the mouth of Matt Mehlan, I guess it makes complete sense.
The first time I put this album on a cold shiver crept over from between my shoulder blades and up along my neck engulfing my balding head which made me utter: "Red Crayola made a new album. Someone else besides me and my friend Mark likes Red Crayola, Ghaaaaa!" So to all you Red Crayola fans out there, there must be like at least a few? A hunting you will go! This is for you! By track #3 you get the feeling there might actually be a band in this band and Matt does actually have friends/minions under his wand much in the way Beefheart struggled with in his early days. The vocals are compressed and distorted but sounds a bit like M.Ward in a lot of places. You can hear their favorite bands leap out of their music like lemons bobbing to the surface of a drowned valley previously possessed by lemon groves. I hear Ween lemons, Zappa lemons, Beefheart Lemons... I think a heard a Boards of Canada lemons in there somewhere too?
I wish they played in my neighbors garage a few doors down. It's a band I'd love to hear practice on gloomy days while everyone is stuck at work in their cubicles. It's a band that can't make a decent cover song. It's a band that uses a lot of electricity but don't break your ears. It's a band the neighbors never complain about...
Their songs are long, and they have to be cause they paint grand vistas with violins and string sections as they sound scape through the lovely light and sweet album painting with their fingers instead of using delicate brushes. If you have any U2 in your collection you will hate this band and probable kill their children and grand mothers. If you are already a Red Crayola fan, this has to be got. It's like playstation two if you like had a gameboy, dude. "Lucas" won't make you want to learn the guitar and start your own band, it will lengthen your attention span and probably cure your ADHD.


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