Amazing Baby - Rewild Review
Posted by Rob Fierro on 06.29.2009
Amazing Baby uses many different elements to produce an album that’s seemingly penned by a band in an identity crisis—not necessarily a bad thing.
Lineup
Don Devore
Matt Abeysekera
Rob Laakso
Simon O'Connor
Will Roan
Songs
Bayonets
Invisible Palace
Kankra
Headdress
Dead Light
Deerripper
Old Tricks In Hell
The Narwhal
Roverfrenz
Smoke Bros
Pump Your Brakes
One might be drawn to Brooklyn-based indie-rock band, Amazing Baby, because of the numerous comparisons to their contemporaries (and friends) MGMT, but in their debut album, Rewild, Amazing Baby combines different genres, instrumentation and effects to create a pseudo-psychedelic, electro-indie rock offering that’s all their own. Simon O’Connor and Will Roan created the band writing songs in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and form a group part garage band and part electro-pop outfit. Amazing Baby uses many different elements to produce an album that’s seemingly penned by a band in an identity crisis—not necessarily a bad thing.
Rewild is an intriguing album because it seems as if Amazing Baby leaders, O'Connor and Roan, attempt to present the offering in different sections. For example, the beginning of the Rewild plays much more like a straight indie-rock album, with only slight electronic influences present. The album opens with “Bayonets,” a track that demonstrates the drummer Matt Abeysekera’s ability to produce innovative percussion. The drum play is very prominent and represents a driving force for the track. “Invisible Palace,” the second song on the disc, is an ambitious, sprawling track that is suitable for a large, crowded arena. It plays like a progressive-rock ballad and features extensive vocal effects. “Kankra,” the next track, demonstrates a shift into Amazing Baby’s experimental side, as it utilizes a greater degree of ambient and background sounds to flesh out the O’Connor/Roan songwriting.
Rewild continues on with one of its better offerings, “Headdress.” This track, reminiscent of Joy Division, is driven by prominent bass lines and features interesting instrumentation, complimented by O'Connor’s strong guitar play. The vocals truly begin to stand out in this track, again reminding one of the late Ian Curtis. "Headdress" also demonstrates Amazing Baby’s inclination towards electronic effects and instrumentation. Next, “Dead Light,” another bass-driven track, redefines the limits of genre, as an acoustic guitar accompanies Roan’s vocals. It even draws on some elements of power metal in O'Connor's licks. “Deerripper” begins as a simpler rock song, but morphs into one that characterizes the band’s desire to experiment. It features prominent vocals and an interesting strong structure and the listener is drawn into the track by catchy hook. A great deal of ambient sound is utilized to build on the original indie-rock template, as a means to bring the listener into the fold on their more experimental offerings.
Track seven, “Old Tricks In Hell,” is somewhat of a slower track. It features prominent background electronic effects to produce a “dreamy” atmosphere, reminiscent of the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??.” O’Connor’s vocals again form a very stark disparity with the background accompaniment and elicit memories of Elvis Costello’s voice with strong lead guitar in the background. “The Narwhal” again features acoustic guitar accompaniment with a very peculiar song structure. Complementing O’Connor’s vocal, on this ballad, is an almost “church-like” chant.” “Roverfrenz” utilizes interesting percussion and the background accompaniment sounds as if it is being played by a high-pitched woodwind instrument. The track plays like a slower offering from Animal Collective’s Post Merriweather Pavilion .
“Smoke Bros” harkens back to Amazing Baby’s earlier elements of indie rock. It is more structured with an interesting hook and features some brass (possibly trumpet) accompaniment. Conventional percussion returns, as the track is driven by acoustic drum play. Finally, “Pump Your Breaks” closes out Rewild. On this track, additional sound experimentation is utilized to create another sprawling and ambitious track . Amazing Baby finishes their debut album with a harder sounding track that combines many of the elements from the preceding songs, including prominent lead guitar and bass, as well as a interesting vocals.
While Amazing Baby is burdened with the obligatory comparisons to MGMT, they produce a completely different sound here. Rewild definitely reflects more Grizzly Bear than the Postal Service or MGMT. The album is often fragmented, as Amazing Baby experiments in various ways through instrumentation, sound effects and structure. Amazing Baby shows promise as both a pop-rock band and an experimental, neo-psychadelia outfit. This perfect storm allows the band to create a pretty strong first offering in Rewild.
The 411: Amazing Baby combines a lot of different influences to create an album that, simply put, is pretty darn good. It's definitely worth a listen and there's a few sweet tracks: "Headdress," "The Narwhal" and "Smoke Bros." I wonder where O'Connor and Roan will take their sound experimentation in the follow-up to Rewild.
