An unfocused but volatile sophomore album,
Calvin Krime's You're Feeling So Attractive is a fractured continuation of the band's cranky noise pop, with the addition of keyboards and violin fleshing out the sound. The record would prove to be their final LP, and not surprisingly, as the band's songwriters, Jon Kelson and Sean Tillman, were obviously drifting apart musically -- Kelson back towards screaming noise, and Tillman leaning into the pop that would become his calling card as Sean Na Na. Occasionally on Attractive the weight of adolescent drama weighs down CK's limber punk frame, but more often than not the band seems to be laughing behind everyone's backs. Especially on tracks like "Oh My Goth!," a silly but disconcerting synthesizer bit that consists of one communally chanted lyric: "I'm dead/you're dead/we're dead/we're dead!" Unfortunately, CK's darkly funny teenage sarcasm was a bit too short-lived to graduate from the hit-or-miss state it's suspended in here. You're Feeling So Attractive is an interesting record that tinkers with the DNA of post-punk and synth pop, but the band's idea process was still gestating, leaving behind a confusing record pocked with superfluous instrumental interludes and a general sense that business has been left unfinished. ~ Bryan Carroll