For their debut album A Picture Of The Three Of Us At The Gate To The Garden of Eden, the collective These United States have created a disc full of quirky, snapshot-of-life songs. Mixing the earnest warblings of Bright Eyes with the laid-back psychedelic vibe of the Doors, the band have created a mostly solid debut, even if they do seem to take themselves a little too seriously at times. The opening tracks find singer/guitarist/bandleader Jesse Elliot borrowing Conor Oberst's monotone vocal style and his penchant for writing lyrics in paragraphs. "Kings and Aces" is the best of these with its hazy musings on how "only memory knows what memory erases."
Things pick up via a quirky stab at the business world called "The Business." It's full of all those corporate trappings ("glorified leather lunch box" and working for "the man") that make musicians and other artistic types break out in cold sweats, and it's also one of the album's strongest songs. Elliot finds the perfect balance of yearning and vitriol when he yelps out, "I'm in business, and honey, don't you want me now?" "Remember Dear" is also a charmer that adds a bit of twang and down-home feeling to warm the album up.
The goings-on turn trippy on the the Doors-esque ditty "Jenni Anne." Taking on a vibe that hints at late nights and kaleidoscopic colors, the band thunders through a song that offers up "drunken duels on a ship of fools." Also keeping up the hippie aesthetic is the line "here's the rules/there is no rules." The energy is vibrant, almost visceral, on this one and shows what a good shot of psychedelia can do for a band. Now, if they could just add a full dose the next time around, good could skyrocket to great.
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