Alright, so who picked up the new Action Action CD, An Army of Shapes Between Wars?
It was released today. Get Big on it.

I just finished my second listen. Talk about complete randomness and chaos. I like it. A lot. This takes what was awesome about their first disc Don't Cut Your Fabric to This Year's Fashion and kicks it up a notch. Granted, it's not all that different. The band says that this release is "the other 90% of the iceberg that the first album didn't show."
I couldn't agree more. The songs seem quite lengthy, when really, most of the tunes hit around 3-4 minutes with another minute of random music bed thrown in before or after a track. Those little additions definitely give the album some character and don't last long enough to get old or monotonous. Each song goes in it's own direction and I don't feel like I ever heard the same song twice while listening to it. Their use of synths, electronic toys, and guitars blends together seamlessly. Can they pull it off live? Who knows. I've missed them everytime they've come through Orlando, but I hope to catch them the next time around.
There's a few moments on this CD that literally gave me chills the first time I heard it. Parts in songs that made me so incredibly jealous that I didn't think of it first. I could never write music like they do. It baffles me how they even pull cohesive songs together. Like many of my favorite bands and artists, they're not someone I would ever try to emulate, so I just pop in the CD, sit back, and appreciate what they've created knowing that it's way over my head.

Bottom line, if you enjoyed their first CD, then you'll definitely dig this one as well, but don't expect to see many shades of The Reunion Show in here. Those days seem to be dead and gone.

Standout tracks include: "Smoke and Mirrors," "A Tornado; An Owl," & "The Game."

4 stars out of 5.

I can now cross this off my "Most Anticipated CD's of 2006" list.
Next up: Rhett Miller - The Believer

-Wes