Review from Funeral Sounds by Jack Potz:"Hailing from the DC area, A MARC Train Home is drummer, Bastian Kunu, bassist Jack Hubble, guitarist Pablo Cabrera, and vocalist Lia Pisa-Relli. Their sound is described on their bandcamp as “dream rock” (which really should be a more recognized genre; dream pop exists, after all). I didn’t really know what to expect going into this fifty-minute album, as I was unfamiliar with the band. What I got was fourteen tracks of beautifully melodic shoegaze and psychedelic music that stands above most of their contemporary, nineties-worshipping peers.From the very first song, “Coarse Hairs”, the most important aspect of this band’s sound is revealed to be Lia Pisa-Relli’s vocals. She’s the first vocalist I’ve heard that I feel can be adequately compared to Elizabeth Fraser. Despite her voice being buried in fuzz, she’s the real driving force of these songs; she just sounds gorgeous, dripping with vibrato and displaying a surprisingly large range. As a song, “Coarse Hairs” is very single-worthy. The slow moving, major-key melody and midtempo pace is essentially psychedelic power pop. The dream-poppy breakdown at 1:45 and the heavily processed riff afterword nicely rounds off this song.Now that I think about it, many of these songs are single-worthy. “Now What?” has a simple yet soaring melody that’s instantly memorable. “Crush The World” is one of the best showcases of Pisa-Relli’s previously mentioned vocals, which contrasts nicely with Cabrera’s crunchy, textured guitars. And when I got to “Broken Necks” when I first listened to this album, I simply wrote “catchy” on one bullet point and “so catchy” on another.It’s probably tempting for an artist to disregard lyrics if they work within genres that don’t tend showcase them. I’m glad that A MARC Train Home doesn’t do that here; reading the lyric sheet shows real effort. “Poison” has some heart-breaking lyrics about drugs (“I want to be immortal / I want to die tomorrow / I want to hug my family / I want to disappear / I’m sorry I could never be the trophy child; always last place”). The title track can be interpreted as being about drugs as well, but it can just as easily be about gender roles (A useless waste a mess of space / A smear of lipstick; a pretty face / I’ll leave my sh*t all on your floor / And leave you nothing at the door). Some lyrics here can be sentimental and philosophical as well, such as on the song “3 AM” (“Once a month my good friend calls me / Not to talk, or see how I’ve been / But to take 3 AM somewhere new / Make the time have some value”).For exactly half It’s Easier To Make A Mess (first seven songs), A MARC Train Home seems like they can do no wrong. Unfortunately, the second half of the album is noticeably weaker than the first. From “Multiplex” to “Heavy”, the band sounds like they’ve run out of melodies, despite remaining lyrically strong and technically proficient. The last two songs, thankfully, end everything strong. The former opens with an interview of the crew of the Enola Gay on the left channel and Seinfeld bloopers on the right (strange, yes). It then builds intensity with arpeggiated chords, and, eventually, a repeating vocal melody by bassist Hubble, who simply repeats “She don’t believe you / She wants to leave you”. The latter song is fierce shoegaze. The guitars are more overpowering, Pisa-Relli’s vocals more buried than usual, and the melodies are slower, reaching and winding all through the noise.The only real problem I see with this album is minor inconsistency. While it was ambitious for A MARC Train Home to record a fifty-minute album when they had previously only done EP’s, this would have been an incredibly effective debut full-length if it were thirty-five minutes and if some of the deeper, weaker song were cut. But, as it is, It’s Easier To Make A Mess is a hidden gem of an album that deserves much more attention.You Should Probably Listen To: “Coarse Hairs”, “Now What?”, “Broken Necks”Overall Rating: 8.2/10"