Von Hayes, Quartered Lots for the Umbrella Soldier

review by dave heaton

Von Hayes’ album Evident Eyelid was a quick rush of a Guided By Voices tribute: lo-fi skewed pop-rock songs with their own energy, albeit influenced greatly by their favorite band. This EP picks right up with that same approach, with six one- or two-minute songs, mostly melodic anthems of surrealist slogans. The brief songs skip by super-pleasantly. In no time you’ll be singing along. Only twice do they push past the two-minute mark. The first time it’s for guitar playing, always a worthy rock n’ roll endeavor. For the second time, though, it’s to close off the EP with a song that rocks tough but also dreams away in a bittersweet way. I can’t quite tell what they’re longing for, though I suspect it may have something to do with Dungeons & Dragons. Or drugs. One of the two.

”We are laying out the sketches of a platform pathetic”, Peter Bothum sings on “Lizard Cake”. Sketches? Yes, but nowhere near pathetic.

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