Are sequels ever as good as the original? We all have our favorite answers to this question,* but I think what most responses have in common is that sequels live up to (or even exceed) the hype when they add something unexpected or take the concept of the original in a radical new direction. This is certainly the case for Jack Chaffer and Dylan Vaisey's second go-round with a band called "Fully Body." Completing the lineup with bassist and vocalist Cassidy Rose Hammond, Fully Body 2 has, in many ways, streamlined the eclectic indie rock of their prior incarnation to its most rhythmically sparse and cogent core while synthesizing a strikingly supple, crystal-fused physique to animate the sturdy architecture of its bones. After two demos, I think their style has finally fully bloomed on their EP Infinity Signature, where new-agey incantations of distortion are cast against concrete, quartz-hardened chords in an assured display of geologically resplendent geometry, like the spire of a crystal-plated castle emerging above the horizon of a cloud. It's effortlessly weighty without sacrificing any swiftness in its dynamics and feels uncannily transportive in a manner similar to that hybridized sonic chimera, Fire-Toolz. In fact, the album often gives me the impression that the group had heard Rainbow Bridge or Eternal Home and thought, "Ok, this is pretty good, but what if we threw in a whole of MBV?" Whatever the inspiration, Infinity Signature demonstrates no hesitation in confidently extending itself into the universe in a vindication of pure, imaginary forms.
