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"Shortcut dot com get me thru this life a little quicker..."  Stef Loy's lyrics, as the lead singer for the group The Miscellaneous, always had a quirky, pop-cultural bite to them.  His new solo album continues that trend.  The above quote, the first words heard on the album (from the track "The Gospel According to St. John's Wort") indicate that Loy has lost none of his facility for satiring the foibles of our culture. Another example of Loy's lyrical play is in the song "Death and Taxes". "But what I wanna be is what you'll make me to be and you'll make this worm his best...", playing off an initial image of worms drying out and dying on a driveway after a heavy rain.  The juxtaposition of the mundane and the profound is typical of the lyrics on this album.

Just like the Miscellaneous' work, there is a kind, loving side portrayed on this album, too.  Loy has claimed that this was not originally intended to be an album; there is an unevenness to the songs which would bear this out, in spots.  There are hard-rocking tunes like the aforementioned "St John's Wort" and "Ash" in which Loy seems to express an edge the Miscellaneous never quite did.  But, there are also softer songs like "Snow White," which sound almost like a second part to the U2 song "Grace," and "Happiness," a lovely piano ballad about the happiness we have in this world, compared against the greater joy of heaven.

Somewhere between these extremes lies the balance of the album. The tone color and song style of the album is by-and-large what one would have projected the Miscellaneous' next album to be, had they made a new album in 2002.  Loy plays the bulk of the instruments on the album and does well.  However, his 'studio band' of Randy Kerkman on guitar, himself on bass, and Chris Wicklas on drums have a genuine chemistry happening on the four songs they share ("St John's Wort," "Ash," "Habitat," and "Kiss Toward").  Not incidentally, they are the four edgiest songs sonically on this album.  Other players include Kevin Triplett, bass on "Kiss Toward," Jason Morris on drums on "Death and Taxes," and "Bone To Bone," Beth Spransy on violin, Stef's wife Kara Frederickson-Loy on backing vocals, and Suzanne Loy on backing vocals.

Despite Loy's claim in the liner notes that he could use an engineer to make future projects sound better, the album is quite well done, on the whole.  Volume levels are a shade on the overdriven side in parts; the occasional yell sounds a little clipped, but not distractingly so.  His voice comes through clearly in the mixes without sounding disjointed from the music.  The album even opens and closes with instrumentals which serve as unifiers to the project as a whole.

Ultimately, this album simply rocks in spots, and provokes thought throughout.  I would have expected nothing less of Loy, and he has managed to deliver the goods once again.  

Alex Klages 11/18/2002

Stef Loy’s Lamentations of Ecstasy is an album that strives to be too many things--alt rock, electronica, acoustic, retro. Loy’s mix of these genres sounds like just that--a mix disc.

After a negligible, disjointed electronic noise/piano loop (“p.rev01”), Loy, formerly of The Miscellaneous,  lays into a very Terry Scott Taylor/DA alt rocker, “The Gospel According to St. John’s Wort.” The DA overtones of this song are hard to escape--the vocal stylings and social commentary lyrics: “Shortcut dot com, get me thru this life a little quicker...Cyber Jesus save me as I’m only growing older.”

The rest of the album flip flops between several styles and moods. Loy continues to show his heavy Daniel Amos influence with several other Taylor-saturated tracks (“Moonstruck,” “Burn Baby” and “Habitat”). A few other songs (“Ash” and “Kiss Toward”) display Loy’s uncanny knack for capturing The Violet Burning’s heavy sound. Loy’s vocals even sound identical to VB’s Michael Pritzl in tone and delivery. 

Flipping between two personalities would be uncomfortable enough, but Loy pushes the envelope by inserting a couple of electronica tunes. During “The Weight of Grace,” Loy delivers his own robot impersonation via strange electronic vocal distortions: “Think of this streaming data text as a kind of movie about search engines....” Huh? The flanger electronic beat is then overridden by an ‘80s sci-fi TV theme synthesizer powered by a fantastic (but wasted) deep, reggae-like bass line. The song seems disjointed--like something that would play from Corbin Dallas’ taxi cab radio in the movie The Fifth Element--compared to the roots rock openers.

“Snow White” is the album’s highlight track, if only for its uniqueness. Beginning with a surprisingly not cheesy retro electronic piano, the song rises above a subtle electronic beat and a lush, synthetic symphony. Loy alone with his piano is a welcome sound. His vocals are quite extraordinary as he drifts in and out of false etto; not an easy task for any singer. The lyrics center around the glowing, “snow white” grace that is Jesus’ love.

Loy quickly shifts from a showcase song to a “where did this come from?” track, “Long Rd.,” which sounds like it came from the last Poe record--heavy beat, electronic soundbytes, heavy bass groove, laid-back, in-and-out vocals.

With “Icebox Heart,” Loy thankfully leaves his obvious influences behind. Loy alone--either with his acoustic guitar or piano--is engaging. “Icebox Heart” takes a step away from the cookie-cutter genres and really displays Loy’s gifts. His vocals, when laid bare, are passionate, gritty and pleasing. His full, beautiful acoustic guitar is front and center, as it should be. Nice track.

The closing track (well, there’s another negligible electronic loop ender), “2002NTZ,” features a great beat (akin to Bjork’s “Human Behavior”); unfortunately, Loy’s spoken-work delivery of Psalm 23 comes off like a bad poetry reading.

This is an album that needs direction.

Greg Adams 10/21/02