The album starts with the track "Living 2 Low." Typical dance beats crawl under sneering, nasal vocals to establish an overall sense of routine and sluggishness that is maintained throughout the entire album.
The second track, "Do the Math," shows a little more promise, but like the second day of the week, it also remains generally uneventful as it rolls through meaningless lyrics.
The album cuts quickly to "Sophia Loren," an incoherent ode to the classic icon. The strange and empty line "I mean, way back, Sophia Loren" becomes a mantra droning on throughout the track. New Wet Kojak's synthesizers, keyboards and guitars sound caught in a continuous loop here, even more so than previous tracks. The lack of innovation in the album at this point is disappointing.
Moving along, we find "Year of the Sheep." Sadly we also find simply more of the same nonsensical lyrics and uninspiring musical stagnancy that we've heard before.
By the time No. 4 EP reaches the final "Love Career (remix)," all expectations for musical genius are gone. But New Wet Kojak fortunately included this track. An album that proved it should only be used as a coaster somewhat redeems itself here with a few new nuances and string arrangements.
But sadly, "Love Career (remix)" is not enough to pull this album out of its monotony. New Wet Kojak didn't miss the boat, they just jumped in and musically treaded water for 21 minutes.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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