A.I.

Artificial Intelligence is an album hiding behind it’s own aesthetics. The songs have a nice sprinkling of computerized soundscapes.

Unfortunately, these modern sonic experiments serve only to distract, and at times, annoy the listener.

At its core, Artificial Intelligence is ambient, nerd-rock posturing.

The creepy techno funk of “Bottoms Up,” the album’s opening track, seems promising, but the song quickly disintegrates into a soupy mess of effect-saturated guitar riffs.

The sounds and messages on the album feel oddly mismatched as well.

For example, the tales of extraterrestrial pornography related in “Alien Sex,” are followed by dreary ballads of warning: “Don’t give up on love / if you find just what you’re / dreamin’, of.”

It is on one of these ballads, however, that A.I. are able to actually capitalize on the potential of earlier songs.

“Say You’ll Stay,” is a fine example of a band dropping the forced urgency of posing, and allowing a song to function on its own merit.

A.I. combine influence and instrumentation in interesting ways, but they would do well to give future albums more focus.

While there is nothing wrong with eclecticism, rampant juxtaposition often leads the listener toward confusion and boredom.