The cover on “In Case We Die” looks like a toned down version of Austrian environmental artist Hundertwasser (though this eight-some is from Australia). And if the Hundertwasser house, which promotes a style of architecture that uses no straight lines since they are a convention of industry rather than the organic, had a soundtrack, it might just be this musical saw and bassoon using band. With tracks that sound like everything from They Might Be Giants tripping to that long forgotten she-Punk band Bis to the soundtrack for a yet to be written off-Broadway musical about farming in cyberspace, the expect the eclectic.
This isn’t an album for sitting still. Some of the songs are sad enough to make you want to cry and call your ex and say you’re sorry, while others require bubble gum and/or the Twist. On the track “Need to Shout,” a brass refrain circles bird songs, chimp noises, energetic drums and something that almost comes close to melody. This sound collage is one of the most successful on the album, with creativity shouting throughout. In “Tiny Paintings,” the start sounds like a hybrid of cocktail lounge and elephants on parade. Prepare to make your own tiny little paintings, certainly mentally and the real kind too if you’re lucky. Or talented.
These eight musicians have the innovation of at least eleven or twelve. Clearly, their eight heads, sixteen eyes, forty fingers, and limitless imagination make kids’ songs cool and dancing in your living room something to do immediately. After all, the present calls for dancing in case we die tomorrow.
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