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The hot, swirling guitar feedback that overwhelmed (Strange Songs) In the Dark is no longer front-and-center here, it's a natural by-product of the wide-eyed magic Merchandise have begun to conjure.
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On Children of Desire, a great deal of that suspected brightness has broken through the surface, revealing a borderline anthemic sound that's a leap and a revelation.
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"Learn how to sleep without any company," Cox dourly croons on "What Was Left Behind", "Oh, you're still a young man." Though the approach still feels- at least from a production standpoint- punk-influenced, there's no denying that something more romantically resonant was bubbling underneath. But for the players that make up Merchandise, these ideas were rendered in ways that were uncommonly restrained. Working as a miserablist pop album shrouded in corroded production, it's a record that tries to filter the fog of strife and regret that pepper so many songs about love and youth. On their 2010 debut, (Strange Songs) In the Dark, things were a bit easier to sort. Trying to figure out where Children of Desire fits is not only a fruitless endeavor, it marginalizes the ambition that acts as the record's most visible engine. A cursory blog search will tell you that Merchandise play an amalgamation of post-punk or shoegaze or noise pop or pretty much any confluence of notable indie offshoots that gained momentum during the 1980s, and while you certainly wouldn't be faulted for making similar connections, something about such broad distinctions doesn't do the band justice. Merchandise's conflicted feelings about genre are understandable: One of the most interesting things about Children of Desire is, despite being crafted from familiar parts, how damn hard it is to peg. I'm taking the chance that there are people like me outside of punk by playing whatever I like. "My roots are strong and have kept me playing whenever I really hated playing shows because of pointless social gossip or whatever. "I still participate in punk and hardcore but for traditional reasons," Cox told music blog Yellow Green Red in October. But with Children of Desire, Merchandise's second proper LP to date, lying low no longer seems like much of an option: Though most assuredly not a punk record, Children of Desire is anything but understated instead, it's an outsized, emotionally rich pop album that practically begs for your attention. As a product of the city's thriving DIY punk and hardcore scene, the three-piece (anchored by multi-instrumentalists David Vassalotti and Carson Cox, who also contributes vocals, along with Patrick Brady on bass) is used to flying under the radar, contributing to other Tampa-based outfits like Neon Blud, Cult Ritual, and the Dry County, respectively. It's a tough act to consistently maintain, but they've delivered another artful, well-crafted release.It's not surprising that digging up concrete information on Tampa, Fla.'s Merchandise is a little harder than it should be. Their experimentation and artistic growth is the trend they pursue most doggedly with each release, though the sounds here won't be totally unfamiliar to fans of their previous albums. In Merchandise's growing catalog, Corpse is both like and unlike anything they've done before. The mostly acoustic "I Will Not Sleep Here," the lone track written by David Vassalotti, is a slow-building late-album highlight approaching seven minutes and concluding with an anthemic bang. Echoes of Depeche Mode merge with swirling pop on "Shadow of the Truth," while lead single "Lonesome Sound" relies more on industrial-leaning, heavily processed guitar rock. Frontman and chief songwriter Carson Cox immerses his crisp baritone in pools of reverb, effectively filtering its coolness as if through the lenses of his black Wayfarers. The drums are largely programmed and synths prevail on tracks like "Right Back to the Start" and "Silence," each song exploring a different avenue of loneliness and mourning time's passage. Ironically, this decidedly less slick effort marks Merchandise's first album recorded in a proper studio with locations split between Italy, Germany, and Florida. Ballard short story, Corpse is mysterious, moody, and nearly gothic in atmosphere and texture. Where 2014's After the End immersed itself in late-'80s college rock glory, their follow-up, the slinky A Corpse Wired for Sound, has less obvious intentions. Shapeshifting Floridian trio Merchandise continue to evade easy description, eschewing the glossy production of their previous effort as they continue to develop in a variety of directions.