The Capstan Shafts
Demon Dog of the American Park Service
Yellow Mica Recordings

After ending last moonth's review of the Capstan Shafts' Unreconstructed Lo-Fi Whore EP I yelled for more. And I got it. A couple of weeks ago Luna Kafé HQ received Demon Dog of the American Park Service plus two more EPs. Demon Dog.. is released by Swedish label Yellow Mica, and holds 10 songs. It still feels like a mini because the album finish in 12 minutes sharp!

It seems like Capstan Shafts or Dean Wells is one extremely creative and productive bloke. As I mentioned last moon - there's Guided by Voices references to be found here. As well as Jeff Mangum and his Neutral Milk Hotel if you're into stuff like that. Wells' force is that he's writing some very good (apart from being very short) songs. I also like his voice and guitar sound: fuzzed and distorted, yet gentle and mild. A very fine mix. He also shoots out a number of catchy pop-songs, even though they're quite hidden under a woolen lo-fi layer trying to keep them as well hidden secrets. For a split second he reminds me of the song-writing (and raw voice) of Kurt Cobain. Pop-Kurt reborn? Nah. Favorites? Yes, plenty: "Get Your Cat Out of My Sunbeam", "Lucky Monkey Briefs", "Gone City Knock Out", "93 Approximately" and "Take Your Coat Off and Stomp For a While". A charmer for sure this Demon Dog.

Watch out for The Capstan Shafts. Lo-fi indie-rock as good as it can be. Check out the 'Themes from Shafts'!

Copyright © 2005 Håvard Oppøyen