Glitterer – Rationale | Album Review

Ned Russin's solo project brings a band along for the ride.

Alternating between irresistibly anthemic energy and morose lethargy, Rationale is a lean record. The songs rarely stray north of two minutes and if you’re not watching the track list you’d be forgiven for letting them all blend into one. The guitars serve as a layer of scuzz to push Ned Russin‘s vocals to the fore, keys drop in and out to offer a little hook or back up the vocals here and there, and the rhythm section are tightly locked in with a minimum of mischief.

The album opens with ‘I Want To Be Invisible‘, gradually introducing the band before abandoning all pretence once Russin takes a deep breath and does what he does best. This is a vocal-centric album, and the delivery is amply impassioned. The vocals drone and sneer over the keys-driven songs and spit and roar when the guitars enter the fray, and it’s impeccably pulled off within the narrow musical scope of the record.

There’s a nagging sense of being short changed here. Rationale feels like a cohesive piece of work, and it’s obvious that the consistency of the tracks is deliberate. That doesn’t mean that it works. Songs come and go before they’ve even begun, which leaves the impression that nobody could really be bothered to explore where the music could go if anyone paid attention.

There is absolutely value in crafting a perfect song and knowing when to back off and call it done. But that’s not how these tracks sound – nothing here is compelling enough to warrant repeat listening, there are no left turns, the entire record just sort of drifts by in a cloud of inoffensive competence and leaves quietly, wiping its feet on the mat and leaving no trace of itself behind.

Closing track ‘Half Truth’ feels more like Half Finished – with a minute of runtime remaining, the song peels back into a wispy layer of synth with a lone bass guitar pulse and we’re full of anticipation for how the tension is going to resolve. But it doesn’t – the keys just politely fade out, and the bass player notices that everyone else has left the studio and sheepishly clocks out for the day.

It’s a lazy and frustrating way to end an album, almost like a review forgoing a proper conclusion and instead just stopping mid sen