Crispy Crunchy Nothing

Album review

PACKS bandleader Madeline Link returns with more of the pandemic-informed, young adulthood-concerned vexation that permeated her band's 2021 debut on the follow-up, Crispy Crunchy Nothing. Written partly while still sheltering at her parents' home in suburban Ottawa, Canada, it also finds her grappling with love and loss, including the death of a family member who was the victim of a hit-and-run. Reportedly "bashed out" during a recording retreat at a cabin in rural Quebec and continuing to take cues from vintage lo-fi slacker rock, the album's loose, moody displays of burnout and angst do, on occasion, seek out slivers of hope and light, but they never stay anywhere for long, with the 14 songs here streaking by in 30 minutes. The grumbling "Cheese" opens the set list with distorted electronic tones before coming into focus on a sparse, laid-back groove. Link's typically mismatched double-tracked vocals are nearly monotone to begin with but find signs of life in a more melodic chorus about sanitizing before touching. Much of the record concentrates on small moments and frustrating details such as this, with only a handful of the longer tracks -- "Not the Same," the catchy "Smallest One," trippy "Sunscreen + Epoxy," and emotionally stunted "Always Be a Kid" -- seeming to constitute fully developed songs (no track here reaches the three-minute mark). That's not to say the album doesn't hit its disaffected mark but that its ephemeral nature extends to a relative lack of memorable hooks, despite some fine ones alongside noteworthy bass work by Noah O'Neil.

© Marcy Donelson /TiVo