#pias

Worst Case Scenario was released at the height of Britpop and felt like a shadowy counterbalance to that lamentable genre’s shallowness. dEUS’s influences on their debut were clearly seminal artists such as The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, and Tom Waits — keening violin lines from the wonderfully named Klaas Janzoons, barked vocals and distorted guitars from Tom Barman, all infused with a general atmosphere of melancholic, late-night desperation, split asunder with moments of explosive fury. There are some frighteningly intense songs here, such as “Suds & Soda,” “Via,” “Mute,” and “Let’s Get Lost,” while “Jigsaw You,” “Right As Rain,” and “Hotellounge (Be the Death of Me)” are some of the most beautiful songs in the band’s discography.

In contrast, In a Bar, Under the Sea, is a lot brighter and more eclectic, seemingly taking its cues from contemporaries such as Beck, Morphine, and Soul Coughing. Though the track list ranges more adventurously than the single-minded focus of Worst Case Scenario, there’s a three-song run in the album’s first half that’s among the best stretch of music the band has released to date. “Little Arithmetics” introduces a peppy tunefulness that’s explored more thoroughly in later albums such as The Ideal Crash. “Gimme the Heat” establishes a queasy, jazz-club simmer before bursting forth into swooningly romantic strings. And “Serpentine” spirals into wormholes of mesmerizing self-reflection.

Both albums suffer a little from the CD era’s tendency towards longer run-times. Given the consistency and intensity of its focus, Worst Case Scenario could have ended with “Hotellounge,” losing the last four songs, and been all the better for it. Part of In a Bar’s charm is its freewheeling, no-holds-barred approach, but it still meanders a fair bit. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to hear the seeds of later albums’ directions in its playful experiments. Together, the two records are the yin and yang of this underrated band’s sound, well worth exploring for the uninitiated.