[review 2006: the honourable mentions]

Faced with the loss of their guitarist, Erase Errata had a choice: adapt or die. Lead singer Jenny Hoyston had already started playing guitar on the band’s 2003 release At Crystal Palace, so she decided to take over full guitar duties. Erase Errata was saved!

Well, yes and no. The band still existed, yes, but Nightlife is clearly a different beast than earlier albums. Part of this must be out of necessity; the deliciously warped and distorted riffs that made up Erase Errata’s signature sound must have taken a hit when the guitarist largely responsible for those riffs left for grad school. And so we find on Nightlife a more straightforward guitar sound that only occasionally attempts the frenetic acrobatics of yesteryear. But instead of simply reacting to Sara Jaffe’s departure, the band took the time to figure out their new approach, and as a result Nightlife fires on all cylinders.

It’s not at all a bad thing that this is the most conventional Erase Errata album to date; while the seething menace behind Hoyston’s ominous half-yelled vocals and Jaffe’s angular guitar work is diminished, in its place is a more pointed and direct aggression. The most obvious case is “Tax Dollar,” the best Erase Errata song I’ve ever heard and one of the best songs of the year. It’s much lighter on its feet than the Erase Errata of old, with Hoyston playfully singing (!) some of the verses before pouncing with fury. Hoyston’s guitar licks are razor sharp, the rhythm section insistent; it all races along nicely until the band shift into high gear about two-thirds into the song, and then again with the searing final refrain, “murder with your tax dollars!” It’s a massive knockout punch that the band never quite manage to equal.

The rest of the album falls into two categories: surprisingly catchy and slightly awkward. Into the former category fall most of the faster and meaner songs like most of the album’s first half and “Wasteland.” The sole disappointment is “Rider,” which tries for some sort of wild west motif and fails until halfway through the song, when the band suddenly regain their senses and drop the shtick. “He Wants What’s Mine” shambles along nicely, but Hoyston’s pseudo-beat affectations aren’t as effective as the rest of the album.

So Erase Errata arrive on the other side of the gaping maw completely intact and more vital than ever. Nightlife is the sound of a band that still has plenty of things to say, and has plenty of convincing ways to say them.