Released in 2002,
& Yet & Yet
may be
Do Make Say Think
's most consistent -- if uninspired -- work to date. The band's thick wire-frame mesh of
Dave Mitchell
's sub-pattern drumming and the remaining members' perched
Labradford
-like arrangements admirably survived the growing dismissal of
post-rock
and non-
electronic
experimentation. A sad, engagingly muddled keyboard, for example, bubbles to the surface of scraped bass and guitar in
"Chinatown,"
while
"End of Music"
returns to a rumbling anxiety that recalls the sophistication of a pre-
grunge
era. Owing itself to past accomplishments proved to be its only failing. Much of this music was dry, over-determined. Long sequences were built on a series of predictable elements of suspense. With
,
seemed to be refining its sound, but intellectually so, leaving many of the band's interesting flaws behind. ~ Dean Carlson