Rain Machine – S/T (2009) [Anti-] // Grade: D

I buy into every bit of the hype behind TV on the Radio. It took me a little while to get into the band, but after a few live shows and some quality time with their discography, I stand amongst their legions of rabid fans, chanting their greatness. When I heard TVOTR’s Kyp Malone had a solo project in the works, I didn’t expect it to be anything less than great. Surprisingly, and sadly, Rain Machine’s self-titled debut is one of the year’s biggest musical letdowns.

Malone withdraws inside himself to create an album of intensely personal and socially-charged material as Rain Machine. His voice is as strong as ever and the instrumentation is largely acoustic reflections with heavy Americana influence. The makings of a fantastic album are hidden within Rain Machine, but Malone self-sabotages the release, allowing nearly every one of the 12 tracks to dissolve into nonsensical, stream of consciousness vocal experiments that are, at best, a difficult listen.

Rain Machine‘s undoing is the uncomfortable tension created by Malone’s inability to stay focused and consistent. “Desperate Bitch” goes on three minutes too long, a track with a beautiful kickoff and powerful lyrics that ends with a total collapse of the instrumentation. As a solo artist, Malone suffers from an inability to self-edit, and even the album’s strongest track, “Smiling Black Faces” doesn’t make it to the end unscathed. One minute of warbling falsetto looped with a flat, howling drawl, quickly destroys the previous five minutes of ambitious buildup. Save for the jangly instrumental intro, there is not a single track on this release that possesses the uniformity needed for merit.

Rain Machine can be best summarized as a frustrating listen. Malone withdraws into his own lyrics, and allows his psyche to take precedence over melody and consistency. Rain Machine is all over the place, but unfortunately, none of the places it lands at are very good.

- Scrooge McFuck