This EP showed great promise in Ra Ra Riot, recalling both Arcade Fire in its commendable lashings of lush strings and tempo changes, as well as, and in retrospect, Vampire Weekend, with its Paul Simon vocals. A particular highlight is 'Ghost Under Rocks' which takes it a step further, and in its wistful delivery brings to mind The Shins.
This is an unashamed pop-rock-cum-indie-rock EP which Weezer could have made if they stopped messing about and being self-consciously ironic.
The band sadly lost a member between this EP and the LP
The Rhumb Line, but in doing so also seemed to lose their edge, which does serve as adequate posthumous praise for the poor lad, and stands this EP as a proud testament to him. Where the LP falls down is in its sub-Vampire Weekend aping, which happily had not started in earnest during this release.
This EP had the curious effect of managing to be so discreet a grower despite its strong influences as to leap from bland to great in one epiphanic moment, so ... worth the investment all round both financially and temporally.
