[rating=6.00]
You wouldn’t expect to find a band like BUHU hailing from Austin Texas, a place where plaintive melodies and laid-back trappings are apparent as well as implied. So to find this trio offering up their rambunctious rhythms and quirky constructs on Relationshapes seems wholly out of sync with the place they currently call home. Seemingly inspired by a once inventive army of ‘80s offspring — Devo, the Cars, the Talking Heads, Gary Numan, and the like — they make a sound that’s imbued with both static and swagger, giddy to an extreme but seemingly just as scattershot much of the time.
Consequently, it takes a bit of digging to uncover the real impetus behind these songs. The press release insists they center on relationships, but the musicians behind BUHU — guitarist Jeremy Rogers, drummer Clellan Hyatt, bassist, synth-wrangler and abstract mastermind Juan Pablo Mendez — steadfastly avoid traditional melodies, opting instead for a mash up of didactic diatribes and artsy intents that diffuse any actual forward thrust. Even the album’s most apparent rocker, the provocatively titled “My Baby Burns So Bright,” finds its anchor in what sounds like barking dogs that have been filtered through a synthesizer. It’s weird to be sure, but not quite as strange as the electronica-tinged “Daytona Beach” or the tangled and tempestuous “You’re My Best Friend,” which, we might add, has nothing to do with the Queen song of the same name. Still, it wouldn’t come as any surprise to find a creative sort like Freddy Mercury nodding his approval.
For most people though, BUHU will be an acquired taste. The jumbled sounds and unabashed effusive energy can be a bit overwhelming at times. Static and substance frequently compete. An acquired taste to say the least, Relationshapes is as complex as the name implies.
