The Diggs - Ctrl-Alt-Del
Grinding Guitars and Gears
Three boys from New York looking for redemption; imagine that. In search of secure passage through their twentysomethings, The Diggs are chest deep in dissolved love as told through sludgy guitars. Whether or not they feel rescued with their second album Ctrl-Alt-Del, they’ve successfully rehashed the buzz sounds of the nineties - for better or worse.
If its nostalgia they sought, working with Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Sonic Youth) was a wise choice. The album’s a straight forward dose of bulky guitar lines and agitated grooves. All great - if the album could survive solely on what those evoke. While the ho-hum ‘Brigante’ and ‘Anagrams’ play to the crowd of Toad The Wet Sprocket, it’s when they don’t rely on lyrics to carry a song that they are at their best. ‘Careen’ is pure pop bliss. Nowhere else on the album will you find stronger hooks made up of agony and infatuation. Bush feedbacker ‘…And In The End Shoot Back’ and stadium shaking ‘This Emphatically’ overflow with the electronic revolt rock you’d expect from the production aid of Cullars who’s previous stabs at Ryan Adams and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs shines on such tracks.
Timothy Lannen’s casual raspy burr is often times not enough to mask the lesser moments that plague Ctrl-Alt-Del otherwise slick arrangements. Perhaps it’s the bittersweet throwback to the alternative nation that comes off as weak when stacked next to its more urgent sounding tracks. When he pines or laments like that in slow dozer ‘You Really Use To Light Up The Room’ or awkwardly recycles as he does in ‘Carpal Tunnel’ it starts to come unglued. Flaccid growls and whiny rants aside, though, The Diggs offer some frills. But the zig-zags of torture and triumph feel all too familiar for those who grew tired of it a decade ago.
Sean Kendall
