A Monument Carved With Serpents

A Monument Carved With Serpents

Taking cues from Liars' Drum's Not Dead and Beach House's recent Teen Dream, the eponymous 2009 debut from A Monument Carved With Serpents includes a DVD with videos for each of the LP's 11 songs, but that's where the similarities end. The ambitious local duo – Tim Gerron on drums and co-producer Jeff King on everything else – crafts mostly instrumental space rock that pulls equally from Pink Floyd's orbital psychedelia and the blackened undertow of Isis, without ever reaching either of those peaks, while opener "Seven Passing Sights" hints Ratatat at half-speed as glam guitars melt with glacier pacing. AMCWS sounds incomplete without a proper vocalist ("I Am Gorgeous on the Inside"), relying instead on a variety of sound clips, and Gerron has more room to maneuver than he employs. The accompanying videos help bring the band's vision into focus ("Vietnam," "Astronaut Song"), but plaques shouldn't be more engaging than the monuments they commemorate.