Floating Bridges Brooklyn, NY
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(Self-released)
“Poppy, indie beats set to crooning vocals and playful melodies” Armed with a well-polished sound, intricate instrumentations and edgy lyricism, Brooklynbased Little Anchor has produced a well-crafted seven track album. Floating Bridges captures a wealth of compositions, styles and approaches to music. From heavy drumbeats, to intricate arrangements and playful harmonies, the album channels an engaging combination of pop sensibilities and indie rock attitudes. Opening with “Alive,” a track composed of surprisingly strong guitar chords and airy vocals, the record sets on a path that covers extensive terrain. “Mailman” is a sweet and haunting ballad about lost mail, simplistic in composition but utterly engaging. Funky and slowly ambling beats on “Solid as Glue” are the perfect antithesis to the poppy and rapidly paced rhythm of “If I Wanted To.” Complete with heavy clapping backbeats, cowbells and a tambourine, it is the album’s most upbeat track. Floating Bridges does just what its name implies; it floats. Each song is linked together by the intuition of the band’s classically trained musicians, who create an airy and wayward charm. Darker moments are illuminated by bright compositions and sophisticated lyricism, elevating the album from stereotypical indie pop record to mature and provoking album.
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Little Anchor
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so well considering Roche’s warm, bright voice, from which almost any lyric could sound beautiful and profound. It’s that great gift that makes the unexpected cover of Robyn’s dance hit “Call Your Girlfriend” morph into a tender ballad you’ll find yourself playing on a loop. But the songs that Lucy has written herself are, to no surprise, the ones worth talking about, and they make this her finest record yet. Her lyricism is as its finest in songs like “Last Time,” from which the title is culled, and “Seek and Hide,” which features Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) on harmony. Speaking of harmony, beloved singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter joins Lucy on one of the record’s best offerings, “A Quiet Line,” which serves to demonstrate all of Roche’s strengths in one song - rich and evocative lyrics, focused instrumentation, and expert vocals. It will undoubtedly find a permanent place in her live performance.
palatable for mainstream consumption. That’s not to say you shouldn’t expect any of their usual mayhem. While there’s noticeably fewer careening choruses and unexpected interludes they do so well, On Oni Pond is still a thrilling cacophony of strings, horns and rollerrink organs, among many other things. Their first single, “Head On,” encapsulates the album’s sound – a surprisingly melodic, remarkably hopeful ballad that starts out sweetly enough, but it’s still a little bit of a shock every time Honus Honus’ vocals come growling in. Oni Pond is about as close to a commercial sound as they’re ever going to get; there’s plenty of the freewheeling splendor that Man Man has perfected over the years, but it’s a little more lovingly crafted this time around.
Produced by Jordan Hamlin
-Jody Amable
Produced by Mark Endozo in Brooklyn
www.lucywainwrightroche.com
Mastered by Alex DeTurk at Masterdisk, NYC
-Vincent Scarpa
Produced by Mike Mogis www.manmanbandband.com
of Montreal
littleanchor.bandcamp.com -Vanessa Bennett
Man Man Lucy Wainwright Roche
On Oni Pond
Brooklyn, NY (1-2-3-4 GO Records)
“A songwriter from storied families comes into her own” The latest record from Lucy Wainwright Roche - yes, she’s related to whomever it is that has come to mind - was recorded in only eight days in Nashville, and this lends to There’s A Last Time For Everything a sense of trusted instinct and an endearing, unpolished nature. It works
Athens, GA (Polyvinyl Records)
Philadelphia, PA (ANTI-)
There’s A Last Time For Everything
Lousy With Sylvianbriar
“Man Man become men…men.” On On Oni Pond, Man Man, the Philly-based experimental outfit, press the reset button on their sound and grow up. A little bit. From the orchestral opening track to the more cohesive sounds of the album that follows, On Oni Pond is the sound of a Man Man maturing. Previous records have earned them a reputation as feral, untamed songwriters, existing on the outskirts of indie rock, but on On Oni Pond, they’ve let it congeal into something more
“Athens-based quirk pop gets a little hippier” Some say the opening chord of an album is the most important, setting the tone for the rest of the tracks. Of Montreal’s 12th studio album, Lousy With Sylvianbriar, starts abrasively, twangy even, a set up for a slightly different sound from this mainstay of the Athens indie-pop scene. Of Montreal has been known for its quirky, bubblegum-esque pop, but on their latest LP, frontman and mastermind behind the group Kevin continued on 44 Barnes seems to be in a slightly different place. It’s not the overtly OCTOBER 2013 PERFORMER MAGAZINE 43