American Standard
American Standard leaves Michael Berdan's voice with little protection. His screams sound rough and close, surrounded by guitars that scrape for long stretches and drums that keep raising the tension. Uniform use this heavy sound for deeply personal music. Berdan's experiences with an eating disorder provide important background without becoming the only way to understand the album.
The title track takes more than twenty-one minutes. A lone voice and its answering response establish the tone before the music slowly becomes fuller and heavier. Repetition is the main tool here. Chords linger, sounds move across one another, and small changes gain increasing meaning. The piece becomes oppressive without simply getting louder throughout.
Later, that slow pressure opens into faster drumming and clearer melody. This gives the extended build a destination even as the vocals remain unsettled. Ben Greenberg keeps the sound thick and connected. Individual elements are not always easy to separate, but their combined force is considerable.
This Is Not A Prayer uses a more direct rhythm. The two drummers give the music an uneasy movement that suits Berdan's voice. Clemency then lets the guitars work over longer stretches. Electronic passages introduce different colours on Permanent Embrace before the harder elements return. The shorter songs give the record more shape without completely removing its pressure.
This is demanding music for attentive listening. Long repetitions and the vulnerable, aggressive singing require commitment. The precision behind the heavy sound makes American Standard convincing. Uniform use scale and rough texture to make something personal felt. The album provides little rest, but its changes have a direction. That keeps the tension present after the unusually long opening, while giving each of the remaining pieces a clear role within the whole.
