I don't even know where to begin at this point. Of course, I know how horribly cliché it is. Writing a premise to your own review, based around how your own incompetence has overshadowed its entire process. And yet here it is, in all of its glory, without any amount of shame whatsoever. But before you go flying off the handle, calling me a goddamn narcissist or something equally valid, you should know that I have a perfectly good reason for my inability to start this review properly, a reason which has undoubtedly plagued an entire slew of post-rock reviewers of late who try desperately not to beat the Post-Rock-Horse again and again. In fact, it's the only thing I can come to think of when listening to Port-Royal's sophomore effort.

I'm talking about electronics. Electronics in rock based music. In some cases, it's a necessity for a band who, while certainly competent, for the life of them cannot separate themselves from anyone else in their field no matter how many times they try. Other times, a band doesn't need to bother with them at all, because the band impresses as a band. And it should be said that this balance, or ratio, can be frustratingly difficult for any band to execute and uphold to any sort of decent degree. I really can't blame those who try. But as Port-Royal unintentionally shows, the ratio is still an all too relevant example of how a decent act can fall victim to its own inability to balance its strengths with its weaknesses.

Port-Royal's first album, Flares, was by and large an instrument driven ambient affair without too much percussion cracking the surface throughout its one hour plus length. I didn't think Flares was entirely great, but when the mood was just so, I found myself being quite pleased with what was entering my ears. Groundbreaking? No, not even close, but it was on the mark within its context. So really then, the single biggest flaw in Flares was its questionable choice of electronic percussion and sound manipulation. Its then frustrating to hear this band focus on everything that was so average about their first release in order to bring it to the forefront on their second. Gone are the slow, brooding swells of Flares, which are now replaced with uninspired IDM-esque electronic production that might have sounded fresh and interesting in 1999. And even then I'm not so sure.

I'm not going to bother with too many comparison points either. All I'll end up saying is something like "Funckarma + Windy & Carl - either artist's strengths = run of the mill" or something else that is a similar oversimplification of Afraid to Dance. But to be honest, not a single track on this CD goes by without me thinking of some sort of variation of the above equation. Add IDM artist with ambient artist, subtract what makes either good, and we end up with mediocrity. There are a few tracks on the album that are somewhat upbeat tonally speaking, which admittedly is a nice change. However these new melodies aren't particularly interesting, nor executed well enough for me to think of them as anything other than average. Rhythmically, we have standard Electronica/IDM production with competent sequencing of, for the most part, uninspired sound selections. How many times do I have to hear tired downsampled drum beats skittering at the same exact tempo as every other IDM artist? Or the criminally obvious transposed granulation of mindless knob twists? Or any of the other overused audio tricks that are far too present in Afraid To Dance? The list goes on. And this in itself I wouldn’t even care about if any effort was made to infuse both instrumentation and electronics together, but it’s quite apparent this simply isn’t the case for a large portion of the album.

Don't get me wrong. Port-Royal, despite this hiccup, are a decent band. And while this album is certainly uninspired to my ears, this does not make it a god awful album; it makes it average. And please understand that I am in favor of bands progressing. There is nothing more uninteresting to me than a band doing the same thing over and over again without much if any change. Above anything else, Port-Royal are taking some small chances, trying to experiment with new things, and are not completely repeating themselves ad nauseum. And while I'm not happy with the result, I can barely blame them for trying.

-Eric Common