With its tropical rhythm and tribal grooves, the second album from Chicago-based trio Mass Shivers does little to hide its culturally diverse musical influences, which range from Captain Beefheart to Can to Afrobeat funk fusion. Ecstatic Eyes Glow Glossy is an imaginative and ambitious sophomore endeavor stuffed with unusual details, yet familiar and engaging enough to feel as though it's not trying too hard to be hip. This can be a thin and difficult line to tread, as ambition oftentimes gets in its own way, becoming a parody of itself and derailing the music it originally set out to create.

The percussion-heavy lead-off track, "Womanizing Metal Studs," presents the album as a whole right from the start; one of meandering consistency with low growling guitar riffs and Stomp staccato drumbeats. Irregular arrangements are complex almost to a fault, tightly wound together with melodic vocals and background harmonies, as evident in the track "Mossy Nethers," which has help from the Chicago psychedelic pop duo Michael Columbia. Careful not to overstay their welcome, the short songs equal out to a little over 28 minutes from start to finish, but pack a lot of punch in their given duration. Requiring a second drummer to pull their stunts off live, Mass Shivers seem as determined as they were with their 2005 debut to continue their exploration of the adventurous side of underground ambiguity.

Christine Wright
December 10, 2007