What Will Become of the Key of Reason? by Mahogany (Review)

What Will Become of the Key of Reason? is a 4 song EP from Mahogany, a group of Florida-based followers of all that is shoegazey and dreamy. Consisting primarily of the duo of Allysa Massais and Andrew Prinz (who has also worked with loveliescrushing), Mahogany isn’t too far removed from that band’s thick, syrupy mix of guitar effects, grainy ambience, and eerie, floating female vocals.

The first track, “The Age of Rectangles,” is pretty good, creating a mass of sound and beats that slowly spins out from your speakers. Allysa’s voice floats over it all like a gaussian blur recorded onto 4-track. The only problem is that the other three tracks never coalesce as well as the first one. Despite its title, “In Fulfillment of the Enthusiastic” meanders around like a half-baked His Name is Alive song. The final track, “Metro,” is probably the second strongest track here, simply because it’s the one that relies most on an actual song-like structure (though it does get somewhat repetitive after awhile).

All in all, a pleasant-sounding enough EP, but nothing that will probably blow your socks off. The band does get props, however, for coming close to that AE-esque ambience that works so well for After the Flood and Lucid. However, I’ve heard bands that are much better at doing this stuff. Maybe I’ll wait and see what their next release sounds like before I pass final judgment, but What Will Become of the Key of Reason? doesn’t quite measure up to the amount of praise it received on various mailing lists.