Pitchfork

Every year millions of people travel thousands of miles making their pilgrimmage to Mecca. While the Islamic prophet Muhammad was said to have made the mountain move for himself, it's doubtful that albums like Who Shot Elvis? will make music fans move toward Mecca Normal. With this release, Mecca Normal's 13th, the prolific Canadian duo of guitarist David Lester and vocalist Jean Smith shift in a new and atonal direction.

Smith writes songs that tell of love and loss; devotion and doubt. Some tales delve into the nonsensical ("Ruby- Lucille, don't take your sphinx to town."). The title track ruminates on the dissappearance of many of our pop icons.

Lester bounces back and forth between rhythm guitar and leads, and he sounds smooth doing it. His rhythm tracks are both timely and jangly; his leads perverse and eclectic. Yet for all his technical expertise, Lester doesn't appear to be satisfied making his songs sound sweet and clean. Instead, he layers clanging guitars and gurgling fret runs on top of the sometimes melodic guitar and vocal parts. The chaos created by all this madness is disorienting.

Jean Smith's voice is reminiscent of Paul Shaffer's yearly imitation of Cher singing "O! Holy Night" on The Late Show. Her siren- like blathering gets old about 20 seconds into the record. It's a shame, because as a lyricist she crafts some charming lines ("I know I said/ 'I love you'/ I never thought you thought/ it was true.") that are tough to stomach in the glare of her blare. Occasionally, Smith does sing competently for ten or twenty second stretches, but she always quickly lapses back into her monk-like drone.

For a (mostly) two-piece band, Mecca Normal are capable of creating a bevy of noise. Rooted in the dissonance and counterpoint they seem to delight in finding, their sound on Who Shot Elvis? is unique and largely unforgettable, which isn't always a good thing.