Jews and Catholics
Civilized
Rock
??
Civilized, the newest record from Winston-Salem garage rock band Jews and Catholics, is exactly that: civilized. Tame in all the wrong ways, Jews and Catholics hit on an interesting sound but never allow it to really grow to completion. The record plays as an extremely unfocused hodgepodge of several different styles, and ultimately never finds one that it can grasp with any success.
The vocals of frontman Eddie Garcia come off as a pseudo-metal scream that becomes grating about 15 seconds after he first enters the mix. The syncopating rhythms of tracks like “Bing Bong,” “Bastards,” and “Much Too Much” are successful in creating an intriguing sonic atmosphere. But then Garcia enters and his vocals drag the songs back into power chords and an over-ambitious aesthetic. The songs are often too sparse to dig into their more interesting melodic ideas, and the cello on “You’re the Blood” seems like a superflous addition.
Jews and Catholics seems lost in its identity: too soft to be a true hard rock band, and too rough to really do anything effective with its best melodies. Weighed down by the legendary status of its influences, Jews and Catholics seems to try and emulate the sound of classic ‘90s rock while lacking the key characteristic that made those bands great — the heart of Dinosaur Jr. or the poetic intelligence of Sonic Youth, for instance. This results in Civilized sounding extremely hollow: all guitar thrash with no motive.
All in all, Civilized is a mildly enjoyable record that is almost entirely forgettable. In a year that has produced new records from several ‘90s rock revivalists (Speedy Ortiz and Yuck among others), Jews and Catholics do nothing to separate themselves from the pack.
— James Butler
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