#is stupider

I wanna see you ride and feel you in the sky

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After the break up of Ovlov I'd heard about frontman Steve Hartlett moving on to a new project called Stove and from that point I honestly never heard much about it again. Then of course, and how things almost always work with me, this album popped up and surprised me. I suppose it shouldn't have since the majority of these songs were allegedly already written prior to Ovlov's breakup for their next full-length, so reworking and recording them likely didn't take a terrible amount of time. However, it's still impressive as to how quickly this came about. Knowing that, however, casts a bit of a different light on the projects debut Is Stupider, in that it's likely going to be held, in one way or another, as an outright extension of Ovlov. And truth be told, the album does in fact sound much like what the band could have possibly put together in the wake of their excellent album Am from a couple years back. It'd be interesting to know how much changed from when these songs were originally being crafted and to their completion having been carried over for Stove material. I have to think that some of the self-deprecation and the general theme of self-doubt had to have been an added element, or at the very least increased, as Is Stupider comes off as an outlet of a variety of frustrations that seem far more personal to Hartlett specifically...if anything, there is definitely a heavier sense of melancholy that is cast throughout the album that can't be ignored. The music itself still rings in as noteworthy since Hartlett undeniably has a knack for whipping out catchy riffs, which are all here and incorporated into the familiar use of large sweeping melodies and generous amounts of tonally bent fuzz that will again endear Stove to fans of the shoegaze set, much in the way Ovlov did. There is a bit of a trade off in tempo, whereas before Hartlett and co. would push onward with slow syrupy melodies for minutes on end, there is more movement here with Stove...almost in an itchy way...like Hartlett can't wait to get all of this off his chest, which could potentially go back to this being recorded in a mere three days. In doing so, Is Stupider seems rougher but shines through with a sense of charm. It did take a couple listens for this one to really breakthrough to me, but it's good and I'm sure everyone who has followed Hartlett into his post-Ovlov existence will be on board with this. Stove - Plastic (stream) BUY IT!

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another poster. record release show for Stove

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