Creedle prove to be talented and creative with latest effort but lack substance, soul

By Greg D'Avis

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Creedle

Silent Weapons For

Quiet Wars

Headhunter Records

Occasionally, a band like Creedle comes down the pike Ä one that pretty much defies all labels, and leaves different people either craving more or hiding under the table.

Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars jumps all over the place. The first song, "Georgia X," goes from frantic, urgent hardcore in the vein of fellow San Diegoans Heroin to quiet, austere little breaks. "Egg Dogg" sounds like a children's song. "I Like Merry Go Rounds" is a folky number, lasting about 20 seconds, that goes like this:

"I look to my left/It's a pretty city night/There's a couple sitting pretty/On the bench beside my right/I laugh to myself/It would be a big surprise/If I took my pretty pocketknife/And ended their pretty lives."

Combine stuff like that with the packaging, which is printed in Japanese and designed to make the band into a Freemason-esque cult, and you get the feeling that Creedle is trying to pull an elaborate joke on all their listeners.

The easiest comparison is Canada's Nomeansno, who have similar combinations of punk, jazz and general weirdness. The problem with Creedle is that they lack the substance of NMN Ä while Nomeansno seems to have a method to its madness, Creedle has no real direction. It's fun to listen to a few times, but eventually the apparent randomness of Silent Weapons just wears thin.

In the end, the talent and creativity are there, as well as plenty of interesting ideas. But until there's some soul, Creedle will never be anything more than a novelty act.

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