OnoffOn sees the band reunited after some 21 years for another crack at the art rock market.  The cynical among you will no doubt note that the timing of this record is rather convenient given the success of the recent Pixies reunion tour, but to be fair to Burma the conditions are probably right for a new record given that indie rock seems to be in favour again with record bosses. 

Given the length of time since their last record you’d be forgiven for thinking that Burma’s sound might be out of place, but you’d be wrong.  Like The Pixies, their music seems to have a timeless quality which would probably be relevant in any decade.  Guitars snarl, vocals are clipped and shouty, lyrics are heavy and strange.  Burma’s influence on the likes of the Pixies is apparent throughout the record as well, with the songs like ‘The Enthusiast’ providing an indication of just where Black Francis found his shouty melodic blueprint. 

Essentially though this is subdued punk for the art generation – Clint Conley sings more than he shouts and there’s a strange resigned quality to a lot of these songs, although the sparse sounding production might have something to do with this.  Lyrically it’s difficult to get into as well and while themes are apparent – Conley provides an apocalyptic view of life on ‘Wounded World’, muttering on about machines and fire for example – it’s difficult to pin down without the help of Stephen Hawking.  More importantly, musically there’s not a great deal of variation either with most of the 15 songs here easily melting into one another.  It’s not a great exaggeration to say that at times it seems like it’s never going to end, a bad omen for any record. 

It would be unfair to say that OnoffOn is a bad record but it is at best uninspired, with few standout moments and very little to encourage multiple plays.  Worse, it seems like Burma’s sound has been used and improved by bands like the Pixies to such an extent that now their ideas seem flat.  Back to the drawing board then, but on the basis of this it might be better if they decided to retire for good this time.

(2½/5)

Release Date: 31 May 2004

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OnoffOn