Summing the Approach

Ativin have received a lot of shit for supposedly sounding like Slint. That's the truth. If you read all the reviews they have garnered, you may read the word "slinstrumental" more than once. But all that adds up to is lazy post-college scribes who just want to hawk freebies for those Dexter's Cigar reissues. Far from slintstrumental, Summing The Approach is more plain mental. More Part and Gorecki than McMahan and Walford, the four songs clock in a smudge under 30 minutes and expand further out than their debut full-length from last year, German Water. Indeed more like a spilled bong, it stretches out into a blurry haze. But it's not stoner rock. Sure it has its spacy elements, but the Ativin guys are far too straight-laced to bear such a distinction. On Summing The Approach's four songs, guitarists Dan Burton and Chris Carothers sway their guitar drone back and forth over Rory Letich's drumming. The groove heard on German Water and their "Modern Gang Reader" 7" is still there, just submerged. Just like most of their Indiana friends who will crank up "Cy" as they burnout in vacant parking lots with shit weed. The trio recorded these songs back in March of 1998 with Steve Albini before slumming their way state to state on an exhausting tour. And the rumors about a split 7" with Roadside Monument are false. Stop calling about it.