Blonde Redhead don't stray too far from the devastatingly beautiful Misery Is A Butterfly on 23. The music is still as majestic and dreamy as ever, with tons of breathtaking vocal harmonies and walls-of-sound drowned in cloudy reverb (much like My Bloody Valentine). Yet, although most of these songs are as great as anything found on the preceding album, I do find that 23 loses it's breath half of the time. Numbers like the title track, the speedy Spring And By Summer Fall and Heroine are unquestionably wonderful, but others, like Silently and SW, with it's lousy horn section, feel a bit out of place (the former, although fun to listen to, sounds like it could have been included on the soundtrack to The Never Ending Story). Don't get me wrong, there is lots to enjoy here, and some songs are incredibly unique (you gotta love the cheap casio keyboard melody on Top Ranking), but it somehow feels more like a step backward than a step forward.