Pitchfork

If you don't fall in love with Amusement Parks on Fire's self-titled debut after the first few notes of "Venus in Cancer", you never will. A throbbing dose of 4/4 overdriven pop, the song casually channels the melody from Dinosaur Jr.'s "Little Fury Things" via frontman Michael Feerick's smooth delivery, which conveys a sense of angst without over-emoting.

It's an impressive feat considering Feerick recorded the album entirely on his own, but after you've heard the first two tracks-- the slow-building, piano-and-strings instrumental "23 Jewels" that leads to "Venus"-- you've pretty much heard the entire record. As the album proceeds, APOF's waves of distorted guitar continue to rise and fall and the instrumental breathers come at just the right moments, but there are no more tricks up Feerick's sleeve. "Venosa" delivers jagged guitars and a jaunty melody, and it's followed with another plodding piano-driven instrumental, "Asphalt (Interlude)". Even the moments of derivation, like the tape-recorded dialogue over the breakdown in "Eighty Eight" or the gradual crescendos and declines of the eight-minute "Wiper", seem predictable.

At times, the transitions between tracks can be charming-- "The Ramones Book" is a modest, maudlin piano ballad that kicks unexpectedly into the soaring shoegaze of "Local Boy Makes God"-- but the album simply revisits the same couple of sounds. It's not just that the pacing is so methodical it nearly makes the record sterile, or that the best song just reminds me of someone else's better song, but for all of the overhwlelming guitars layered onto these songs, sentimental ballads like "The Ramones Book" are what's at the record's heart. My perception might be colored by hearing the "rustic" version of "Venus in Caner" from that song's single release, a precious acoustic rendition that stands perfectly on it's own. It was a revelation: These tracks aren't bult to bruise, they're bedroom pop in a blanket of distortion as a defense. Feerick's simple melodies sound much more apt with subtle coloration instead of overkill. Amusement Parks on Fire has undeniable focus, but it's moments like "The Ramones Book" that reveal the most.