Soulmates 1 The Long Face [mp3] 2 Third and Fourth Hands 3 Carrion 4 Assimilation Honey 5 Red For Cary 6 Chasing Apples 7 Jenna and the Bald People 8 Jenna and the Blind People 9 Jenna Our Savior 10 Julianna 11 We Swallow Insects While We Sleep 12 King at the Merchant's Door 13 The Content 14 Naturalization For more information, e-mail blueskymail@proxemics.net

"Love goes both ways. You go one way, I go elsewhere."

Soulmates is clearly a great leap from People You Meet While You Fall. Every department is improved: musicianship, composition, concept, production, lyrics, vocals. Crammed with fourteen fully realized songs recorded in only one month (still under the name Wave after Wave), this second release was an excercise in endurance and wits as much as in creativity. The album revolves around moribund love, dysfunctional marriages, and bizarre romantic arrangements. Each song is distinct and unique, with some taking a more progressive edge, while others retain the bare and basic sound of the debut album--and still others take a detour through peculiar ground.

The opening song, The Long Face, remains classic Blue Sky Theory material. The subtle but effective tempo changes and layerings of melodies in this demi-ballad suggest the musical direction the band would later take. Third and Fourth Hands is another favorite, with its two interplaying guitar lines during the verse and the "goth and roll" feel of the rhythm section. Red For Cary and Chasing Apples harken back to the style of earlier recordings, but where the former is eerie and haunting, the latter is playful and lighthearted. The Jenna series was designed to be bizarre and circus-like--a kind of excorcism for pent-up experimental anxiety. The Content and Naturalization, both lengthy tracks, round out the album on a tense and dismal note.

The last line of Soulmates, "There's got to be a way to make it out," of course, is never resolved.