The Child Who Was a Keyhole

Like a 21st Century Patridge Family in which the parents divorce and the kids lock themselves in the basement to play Zelda, consider The Child Who Was A Keyhole as a tormented return of the family rock band. Two married coupls: Jonathan and Kylie on guitars and Dustin and Molly on percussion and synth. And T.R. now on Saxaphone. The idea was to play sci-fi cartoon rock stuffed with lyrics. Songs about cats who learn to use radios or robots composed of thousands of interlocking birds.

But emotion crept into the music as Jonathan dealt with the divorce of his parents and visits to hospitalized family members who had separately attempted suicide. In turn, the cats became angrier. Their radios became deafening. The album was now sci-fi cartoon rock about cats divorcing. Mmmm. Unexplored territory. At time evoking a more energetic and searing Belle & Sebastian, venturing into Pavement and Pixies shouts, bellowing out with large Of Montreal vocal choruses, later blazing forward into a mess of Mercury Rev atmospheric noise. In The Faxed Atmosphere warps through the danceable sing-a-longs of "Micha" and "Shortwave", slowing for the and expresive beauty of "Arm in the Foam" and "You Came to Stay".