Autolux - Transit Transit Album Review

Depending on how you count it, five or six years have passed since the debut album from Autolux, which in this industry is a massive amount of time to spend grafting away in the shadows. Clearly, to justify the time spent out of the public eye, Transit Transit can get away with being nothing short of a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it is something of a disappointment.

The album starts with shuddering beats and sombre piano refrains set to Autolux's trademark haunting high pitched vocals. This is a far cry from their jagged Sonic Youth-esque indie rock of old, but comes across more like Radiohead by numbers. Just like Radiohead's worst moments, this too is horrendously dull, as opposed to the tender, epic way to open up an album like I'm sure it was supposed to be.

Track two, Census, is more like the Autolux of old with its jarring guitar refrains and fast picking to make a frantic rocker and it does show promise, before the album dives right back into the synthetic drum machine led Highchair. The album carries on in this shoe-gazing manner with Spots, another minimalist plod through. In all honesty, it is just dull. So dull in fact that the brilliantly raucous Kissproof can't even save it with its wails of feedback and pounding snare drums, which are easily forgotten when the frankly irritating Headless Sky kicks in with its simplistic riff.

This album stinks of time wasted and opportunities missed. Whatever Autolux were doing with the last five years, it certainly wasn't crafting a brilliant and imaginative album to justify the time spent on it.


Ben Walton