Defying definition other than the label of experimental psych-rock four-piece – the Los Angeles band’s album is an eccentric, quirky set of songs that can’t easily be unlocked with this tool or any other, but still pull you into their enjoyably agile mystery. The high vocals of Livvy Bennett (also guitar), Noor Khan (bass), Dylan Hill (drums), Michael Hunter (keyboard) make them a hybrid of changing pace and styles. Opener Broken Bones brings some echoes of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and a dash of White Denim, who they have supported on tour, but the lyrics retain also that feeling of mystery: “I wish that I could open up to you / But I can’t be sure what you’d do”. At times there’s parallels with the idiosyncratic funky grooves and playful lyrics of Tune-Yards, or the restless, leaping oddball time signatures of and high vocals of Deerhoof. Among the highlights, #1 Best of All Time there’s a stop-start racing beat and bass groove and frantic changes of pace, while Bennett sweetly sings in our own time (“Marathon runner, I placed last / However, I felt just as fast”). The Quiet has a romantic, swooning melody underscored by the frog-like ratchet sound of a wooden guiro or similar percussive instrument. MF has swaggering almost glam and prog groove, Nothing Lasts Forever has an easy woozy funk feel, Here’s Everything is a jazz-prog exploration, Anhedonia has a abstract syncopated indie chord progression and rhythm, with a summery, light as a feather chorus, and Feels So Wrong also feels so right as it swings into wistful indie pop. Strangely wrongfooting, intriguingly evasive but somehow still very groovy and engaging. Out on Epitaph Records.
Mamalarky
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