Amazing Baby: Rewild
Amazing Baby kick off with the divisive Rewild
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Tuesday, 23, Jun 2009 12:56
Shangri-La Music, out now.
In a nutshell...
Elaborate, hazy, epic, psychedelic, Bowie-esque
What's it all about?
Rewild is the debut album from Brooklyn five-piece Amazing Baby, following their 2008 EP Infinite F***ing Cross. Complete with orchestra and lots of studio distortions, the album's eleven tracks explore psychedelic, folk and garage rock territory, with moments 90s Britpop.
Who's it by?
Graduates of the same college as MGMT (Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut), Amazing Baby have already been categorised as part of a 'movement', which basically consists of bands who went to Wesleyan and are now roughly based in and around Brooklyn. As well as 'founders' MGMT (being the biggest and first act) other 'movement' members so far include punk disco band Boy Crisis and ambient, folk-rock-styled Chairlift.
Forming some time after MGMT at the beginning in 2008, Amazing Baby have developed a sound which combines a lot of 60s and 70s influences- from the obvious Bowie and Eno associations, through to more random echoes, like Queen and the Beach Boys- but somehow manages to stay very modern. They have just finished supporting fellow Brooklyn band, The Virgins and are due to kick off their own tour- including the festival-circuit- in July.
As an example.
"And I don't care what your friends thinks, what my friends think, what your mom thinks/I'll be with you." - Amazing Baby
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Despite shallow comparisons with MGMT, Amazing Baby have a very different style and it is difficult to imagine Rewild bringing them the same kind of mainstream success.
What the others say
"In amongst the cacophony is an album that sounds as forward thinking as any of today's laser-harp-loving pioneers whilst sounding so vitally of its time." - Narc Magazine
"There is a spark missing from the record... While the songs smolder, very few of them actually ignite." - Snob's Music
So is it any good?
Rewild opens with the fresh and energetic Bayonets and finishes with the punchy and almost anthemic Pump Yr Breaks. Of the rest of the album, Headdress also stands out, with a seething and evocative quality, reminiscent of Jesus and Mary Chain during one of their softer moments.
The rest of the album has a very different feel- filled with confusion, hallucinatory images and a genuine sense of intoxication. From Dead Light (track five) onwards, the mood gets a lot heavier, with shamanic lyrics and lots of complex Eno-style distortion. The effect is undeniably impressive, but it is really a question of taste, whether you think this is amazing or just a bit hollow and pretentious.
As the album continues in this vein, individual tracks sometimes don't stand out enough and can seem to morph together slightly. The main problem is the music and lyrics often don't have the unaffected quality to be found in songs like Bayonets and Headdress. Instead, the focus is on experimentation and once again, the overall effect is far from bad- it just arguably lacks real engagement at its core.
Overall, there seem to be two obvious directions Amazing Baby could go in, following on from Rewild. On one hand they could continue with the fresh rock sound most embodied in the final track Pump Yr Breaks- which sounds like a mixture of Pulp and 90s grunge. Alternatively they could continue recreating and revising the kind of 60s prog rock effects which seems to fixate the majority of this album. Either way, this album as a whole is very much a matter of individual taste.
7/10
Julia Ross