Compilation Review

FROM UNDER THE GRIND

By LARRY PARNASS, Staff Writer Gazette

November 08, 2000

      "The CD takes its name from a beautiful and doleful song by The Figments that, to Rooke's mind, captured the facts of lives lived through music in these times, in this place.

     The laconic song, so sweetly simple yet layered - even a bit orchestral - is a marvel of grace in resignation. It plays true to type yet defies convention. The song describes the late-night scene at the Bay State Hotel in Northampton, a place that's a musical retreat from the grind of day jobs.

     Surrounded by a crowd at last call, words come streaming out in clumps, the lyrics say, even though "the facts aren't aligned."

      "There's only one place left. Welcome to the Bay State. From under the grind we raise our glasses up to leave it behind, but know it's not gone."

      Vocalist Thane Thomsen achieves a sense not of singing a rock song but of speaking to a room of friends. There is a hint of a parody of bar-band fatigue in its galumping start, but an instrumental refrain pumps with life.

     While the song laments the need to seek refuge, the middle guitar break is played with such vigor and deftness that memories of those numbing day jobs dim. These guys play like music is it, it is everything, 'round the clock. The song lengthens and slows at the end like early-morning hours."

Broken Time - CD

The Rochester Daily Evening News