A PERFECT CIRCLE - eMOTIVe

The third chapter in the A Perfect Circle saga has to be read against the political backdrop we've just left behind: the race for the White House. Extra-musical factors, if you will, somewhat forced the release of "eMOTIVe", which hit US shelves starting November 2nd (a date that's symbolic to say the least). The band's active involvement in the pro-Kerry star-studded tour is telling of the climate in which the album was born.

After all, given the leisurely pace the Tool allow themselves with their records, one might have expected the A Perfect Circle project to suffer from similar delays. That wasn't the case, and "eMOTIVe" arrives exactly one year after its predecessor "Thirteenth Step". A necessary premise for this album is that it's made up almost entirely of covers. Only two tracks are original compositions by A Perfect Circle. In truth, the stylistic exercises the four Americans engage in are something more than a simple tribute to classic rock songs. The very choice of tracks to "dissect" is remarkably varied, ranging from the godfather of soul Marvin Gaye to Depeche Mode, from John Lennon to poet Joni Mitchell.

These aren't tributes, they're something more. The songs are reinterpreted and transformed, turned inside out like a sock until they're practically unrecognizable, though the results don't always live up to expectations. Filtered through the A Perfect Circle machine, the songs take on a second life, even the ones you'd never have expected to find reshaped this way, like shards of a vase smashed on the floor, where only the lyrics bring your mind back to the original versions. So the dark, anguished version of Lennon's "Imagine", introduced by that droning, monotone piano, is "eMOTIVe"'s most successful experiment. Conversely, the same depressive emotional transposition proves to be a failure in the case of "What's Going On", where the gospel choirs of racial defiance are brutally replaced by a drum track muted in the distance, accompanying a despondent Keenan.

The opener "Annihilation" is only mildly convincing, while the Black Flag remake "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie", a track with industrial leanings, is decidedly more persuasive. A pleasant surprise comes from "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, rendered in a jazz-lounge key, which once again demonstrates (as if it needed proving) the versatility of Keenan's voice. But overexposure does damage to anyone, and so it is that the a cappella rendition of "Fiddle And The Drum" ends up simply sad and pathetic, or maybe just dull. Still, this isn't A Perfect Circle's main flaw, so much as their inability to hold together an album that's scattered and excessively pretentious (it's unclear, for instance, what "People Are People" is even going for).

A bland effort, all things considered, in which the few genuine A Perfect Circle rock moments get lost amid the eagerness to properly honor some glorious songs. Hopes for the future? Few, like the post-industrial intro of "Counting Bodies..." or the aforementioned "Imagine". And yet, listening to "Passive", one has to wonder: was all this really necessary? Couldn't we have waited a bit longer for a new album of original material? The mysteries of politics, perhaps, but when a 48-minute record is this boring, there's genuine cause for concern.

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13/11/2006