A Future Lived in Past Tense

DeSoto Records

A massive 69:55 tome (actually, only 68:46 if you don't count the pointless "hidden track"), it will unfairly and inaccurately get compared to Radiohead's more recent outings because of its grandiose scope. In fact, it has more in common with Disintegration-era Cure, early Peter Gabriel (albeit, a guitar-driven one), and even the last release by Elliott (but, of course, this is a whole lot better).

At the CD's core are a couple long droners. The 10-minute-plus "The French Letter," starts and ends at a languid pace, building to an almost obligatory epic ending around the lyric "Mistaking might for miracles." It's followed by a simple guitar-only chimer and an 8-minute Robbie Robertson-style spoken word piece that you can't follow without the lyric sheet and that begs you to forward past. Then comes the 9-plus-minute "We Slept in Rented Rooms (the Old School Bush)," which sounds a whole lot like "The French Letter" -- the same pace, the same downtrodden vocals, the same My Bloody Valentine sheen. The difference is a soulful guitar counter-melody halfway through that warms everything.

So can two almost 10-minute crawlers hold your attention? Yeah, much in the same way a Bedhead or The New Year song does by building slowly throughout the song's entirety, adding haunting, shimmering noises and lifting vocals. There's not too many sprawling, epic indie rock CDs out these days -- the term is an oxymoron considering that most indie CDs are around 30 minutes long, contain 13 to 15 two- to three-minute songs, or are simply released as a 5- or 6-song EP. Juno manages what hasn't been done since the '70s era of concept albums -- they keep you transfixed until the bitter end, then force you to hit the play button again.