While I liked The Caribbean's 1999 self-titled EP well enough, this full-length release is a huge leap forward. Two of the five full-length tracks on that EP seemed to fit the band's name a bit too well, given the trendiness of revamped tropical, particularly Brazilian, styles, but Verse by Verse suggests that the sense of space and sonic exploration that characterized other tracks on that EP (such as "Impure" and "Soundproofing Makes a Practice Space") are more central to the band's aesthetic. Originality would seem nearly impossible at this late date, but The Caribbean combine their ingredients ingenuously to achieve something very like it. Oft-acoustic instrumentation and creatively used percussion are treated with reverb and echo to create almost a new instrument, like the cavernous background piano on the title track. Throughout Verse by Verse, The Caribbean displays a keen and creative ear for arrangement and production, such as the way the sampled drums (from Talking Heads' "Warning Sign") and acoustic drums temporarily go out of phase near the end of "Front Row of the Rodeo," the glockenspiel and cello accents that well up unexpectedly on a few tracks, the odd sound (bowed zither?) punctuating the lazy acoustic glide of "Help Would Only Confuse Me," or the distorted electric guitar that erupts out of nowhere near the end of the otherwise delicate "Knife Replaces Blade." All of this arranging legerdemain serves some fine songs with the sorts of melodic and chordal contours that at first hearing sound unexpected but prove to be guided by their own satisfying logic. (And as you probably noticed, they have a way with titles as well.) My only complaint about this CD is that it's over too soon - but that only allows me to start it over again.

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