Enon

Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence (Touch & Go)

By John Everhart
Published: June 14th, 2005 | 3:49pm

It seems appropriate for a band like Enon to release a singles collection, given their full lengths’ propensity to resemble such in their utter haphazardness. As band leader John Schmersal notes on the band’s website, Marbles is "an undefinitive collection of things the common man (who does not have a record player or check our website regularly or check every compilation we've been on) needs to be hearing. We simply took the time to narrow down the fat and remix it all into something that may sound more like a cohesive record than any of our regular full lengths."

Well put, but no, Marbles isn’t any more cohesive than their proper albums, but it's no worse off for it. The album's a righteous clamor, recklessly veering from unfortunate misstep to visceral high. Opener “Knock That Door,” with its disco-tinged bass line and spiky synth flourishes, showcases the band’s most valuable asset: the breathy, lovely vocals of Toko Yasuda. While Yasuda’s vocals proffer range and emotion, Schmersal, singing here on around half the tracks, provides a laconic counterbalance, especially on the somber “Fly South,” with its undercurrent of murky feedback, and on the gracefully understated “Adalania (Not So Fair),” a tantalizing electro-pop vignette.

What Marbles ultimately illustrates is that Enon is at its best as a band chopped into moments. Never one to sustain a mood across an entire album, they’ve released a multitude of great songs across the span of their career, and a few execrable ones, each of which can be found here in approximately that proportion.