Album Review: Painted Doll - How To Draw Fire

The first Painted Doll album was something rather different. The combination of a death metal legend and a comedian making music that was as much 60s pop as anything was weird, but mildly amusing. There were a few songs that justified the experiment, but it was a record that I wasn't going to be going back to very often (and in fact never did). It wasn't that it couldn't work, nor that I didn't want it to, but simply that there weren't enough songs I wanted to hear again.

Now we get to find out if time, and the experience of having an album under their belts, can make the second effort any better.

The album opens with "Sun In The Sea", one of the heavier songs in the band's repertoire, but one that follows an unusual songwriting form. The track is five minutes long, and has a lengthy guitar solo, but only sings the chorus of the song once, in the first half. Since that is where the main melody is centered, not revisiting it is an odd choice. I don't say this to be harsh, but the guitar playing isn't able to carry the melodic quotient all on its own, so relying on so much instrumentation doesn't fit the vibe the band is going for.

The core of the band's sound is a hazy, laid-back approach to rocking. Everything is subdued, mellow, and the sort of thing you listen to when you're not looking to get yourself pumped up. That's just fine, by the way. It actually reminds me a fair bit of the record made by the group Myja, which was a favorite of mine a few years ago. That record had the same sort of tone and timbre, but it leaned harder into the pop element, so the record had a vibrancy to the melody that played well against the lethargic sound of the production. Painted Doll doesn't quite get there. Even when they are trying to be their most pop, like on "You Were Everything", the hooks can't shine brighter than the energy poured into the performance.

That remains the biggest drawback to the record. I like the sound and the approach Painted Doll trades in, but for all the talk about making the pop parts bigger, this record doesn't have much of any sort of pop appeal. The hooks and melodies are flat, so there isn't a lot here to sink our teeth into. At the very least, the band could have used more layered vocals to give the impression of something more substantial. When they do that on "Slow Armageddon", it's the best song on the record. There aren't enough of those moments either, so there are several songs where it takes a minute to even recognize what the hook of the song is supposed to be. I get that not every song needs to have a giant chorus, but they do need something memorable. When they blend together with the verses to become indistinguishable, I would argue they aren't succeeding.

Like last time, Painted Doll is giving us a record that gives us an interesting sound, but songs that can't live up to the promise. I would very much enjoy hearing a record of catchy songs played with this aesthetic, but we don't get that. The songwriting once again comes up a bit short, and rendered Painted Doll more of a curiosity than a band we need to pay attention to. Without any songs I know I need to keep hearing, Painted Doll is once again going to be an afterthought. That's a shame.