The NYC-based Weep is led by Doc Hammer, ex-soundshaper for the late, lamented gothic folk rock duo Mors Syphilitica, though he’s likely best known as one of the creative minds behind the TV show The Venture Bros. Not that the latter has anything to do with the band’s second album Worn Thin. Instead, it sounds like Hammer created this record under the influence of several hours of 120 Minutes, circa the mid-‘80s. Echoes of the Psychedelic Furs, New Order, the Cure and more underground alternative rockers like the Comsat Angels and Cocteau Twins are everywhere. But they’re only echoes – Hammer’s vision may be overt about its influences, but this is no nostalgia trip. Ringing guitars, lush synth beds and soaring melodies evoke a certain era, but Hammer’s husky croon – barely above a mutter – subdues any note of melodrama. Besides, it’s songs like “Snow Scenery,” “Ever Shy” and “The Time I Thought That” that push the record into a timeless dimension where choruses invite accompaniment and pleasures are never guilty.
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