Batesville Panolian

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1993

Idaho

Year After Year (Caroline)

Style: Gloomy, lazy day tunes that sympathize with your aching soul. Low, distorted guitar and soothing vocals combine for some quality, rainy night mood music. Interesting fact: Bassist/vocalist Jeff Martin is a classically-trained pianist while guitarist/ drummer John Berry is a former punk rocker and ex-convict.

The album: The L. A. duo Idaho have produced some serious mood music on their debut LP, Year After Year. Though not an album for all occasions, this lush set combines lazy vocals and tempos with streaming guitar distortion that gives it an edge, but not too much of an edge. Idaho’s style—which has been described as “slowcore” and has been captured by such critically-praised bands as Red House Painters, American Music Club and Codeine (see review below)— is perfect for lying down, closing your eyes and pondering. In the right mood, there’s not a bad song to be found on this collection. But these are songs you have to sit down and really get into, otherwise they all run together. It’s hard to narrow down stand-out tracks, but the dreamy and personal songs like “God’s Green Earth,’ “Save” and “End Game” define Idaho’s rich brand of hazy dark and murky pop.