At its best, Tapes ‘N Tapes’ debut album, The Loon, is everything we love about Indie-rock. Its experimental, yet familiar. It sounds new, yet its influences are apparent and well selected. Its dark, yet its playfully melodic. Its smart, yet simple. And just when you think you’ve figured it out, its surprises you. To put it simply: The Loon is easily one of the best releases of 2006 thus far.
Initially a three piece, the group got its name after early jam sessions with a four-track produced “tapes and tapes” of material. Now a full fledged quartet, Tapes ‘N Tapes is the latest band to be swept up in a twister of ascending blog driven hype. All the attention is well deserved; The Loon is an imaginative album that succeeds on almost every track. The band’s Lo-Fi sound is meshed together with analog keys, eery xylophone, and powerful guitar.
“Just Drums” is the anthem of an opener, in which the unique vocal presence of Josh Grier become presence. His David Byrne like yelp quivers across the eleven songs, spewing dark and emotive imagery over instrumentation that is amateurish in its immediacy, yet always on mark. While “Just Drums” and “Cowbell” rock, “10 Gallon Ascots” switches between an ambient verse and an epic, soaring chorus that is one of the album’s sure highlights. Even the slower number “Omaha” is a perfectly delicate track that serves as an inter-mezzo before the album closes with the triumphant “Jakov's Suite”.
The future looks bright for Tapes ‘N Tapes, whose quirky yet confidant debut is a satisfying and surprising piece of indie-rock excellence. If The Loon is any cue of what’s to come, plenty of fans will be clamoring for tapes and tapes of new material from the band in years ahead. |