His Name Is Alive -- Mouth by Mouth

7/10

Mouth by Mouth, the follow-up to His Name Is Alive's Home Is in Your Head, features a more filled out and consistent sound. It is also decidedly less weird than its predecessor, featuring a more straightforward, near-shoegaze, dare I say, "pop" sound. With that said, this still feels like guitarist, Warren Defever's art project, albeit with a much bigger budget, and slightly more focus. Apparently, Defever's original cut of the music featured a lot more samples that were integral to the sound of several tracks. The label was scared of lawsuits and removed them, along with the original final track, and there is a feeling that something is missing on Mouth by Mouth. Still, it has songs like "Can't Go Wrong Without You," which received yet another ghostly, gorgeous video from the Quay Brothers.

A year after the time I described in my Home Is in Your Head review, in an empty house, I checked out the Quay Brother's compilation DVD again and relived the glory.

1993 4AD/Warner Brothers
1. Baby Fish Mouth 2:32
2. Lip 2:57
3. Cornfield 3:15
4. In Every Ford 3:43
5. Lord, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace 2:17
6. Drink, Dress and Ink 2:30
7. Where Knock Is Open Wide 2:46
8. Can't Go Wrong Without You 3:14
9. Jack Rabbits 1:50
10. Sort Of 1:03
11. Sick 3:50
12. Blue Moon 2:15
13. Ear 2:02
14. Lemon Ocean 2:47
15. The Torso 3:14
16. The Dirt Eaters 4:24