Uzi & Ari
It Is Freezing Out

Every now and then it's better to overcome laziness and listen to the friend who's trying to get you to go to a concert, even if you've never heard of the artists in question. Sometimes it also makes sense to go to a venue that charges you more for an ARCI card than other places, as if their club were more exclusive... So, sitting around a round table, I try to open my ears as much as possible (since I've already had to endure two significant efforts...).

This American-like little band (hmm... but are they?) quickly inspires sympathy. Busy creating electro-rock-postrock-indie melodies of clear Tom Yorkian derivation, the Uzi & Ari sound doesn't just stay fixed on praising the mentioned phenomenon but tries to take off song by song toward personal shores, succeeding in the endeavor. You see them treading a not too spacious stage with great spontaneity, the kind that only mature bands have (with at least two or three pieces sung practically on the floor by the group's mastermind, Ben Shepard, in order to fiddle with the pile of scattered effects).

Time flies by (when that happens, it's because everything's going well), and you didn't even go for the second beer because your attention is solely focused on them. Once the performance is over, to give you an idea, I leave the place satisfied, with a full belly and licking my lips as one does when leaving a good osteria. A pat on the back for the friend is a must, as is picking up from the stand "It Is Freezing Out," an album which now deserves a closer look.

I know, I've already mentioned the Radiohead reminiscence, but the album puts Ben's voice (after a brief intro) above every other instrument, and what comes to mind is, "...Kid A really was outstanding".
"Don't Black Out" is a taste that immediately clarifies a few things, besides those already noted, and while it warns (such a proposal needs to be listened to attentively) it also leaves you in the pleasant anticipation that an explosion of sounds will follow the delicacy of one of the many melancholic moments of the record, only to return satisfied to once again enjoy the delicate sounds of a few notes coming from an acoustic guitar rather than a Rhodes.

What convinces me the most is the emergence of every single sound, from the breath of a voice ready to whisper to the enveloping warmth of both clean and distorted guitars. It's a lovely album, well-arranged indeed, but since this isn't a masterpiece of originality, it's worth noticing how it's reaching our ears.
When I first stumbled upon the fourth track, "Asleep In Armor," I didn't immediately realize it would become my absolute favorite; it took me a while to appreciate it. But now I struggle not to hear it at least once a day. This piece somewhat synthesizes the entire album. It encapsulates in a few minutes the soft and the acid that this album emits. Maybe it's because I'm easily swayed by certain motor-psychedelic melodies, but the more I listen, the more I understand that it's equally wonderful to get involved in this way by songs that don't live on their uniqueness but rather on their adrenaline, emotion, and poetry.

I also mention other tracks like "Mountain Molehill" and "Trainwreck" as the only volume peaks in a fundamentally "calm" album but happily embellished by the never banal arrangements of these young minds from Utah, Texas, and Alabama. I won't even go into analyzing "It Is Freezing Out" track by track; those who are curious and haven't yet discovered them will finally have the opportunity to showcase another great band with a "U," and that doesn't happen often.