From the opening percussion and hand-clapping of
Split The Lark to the heavy powertrip and stuttering finale of
Width Of The Tunnel,
Brainstorm's
Battling Giants more than pleases the ear with interesting musical antics and fun ideas...all executed in such a way that appeals equally to the inner child, musician, and poet. This is some seriously creative indie rock from Portland, OR.
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| Photo From Brainstorm Facebook page. |
The sometimes overlapping and/or harmonized vocals ebb and flow, usually crescendoing just in time for squiggly, trilling guitars to writhe in distortion or fuzz, scampering around their favorite scale and crashing into walls of power chord waves. Rattlesnaking, jangling, and thumping percussion manages to ride along and keep things as "structured" as they'll get. Brass makes its way into the mix rather randomly at points in the record, teaming up with some synth goodness for the poppy title track. The anthemic
We Are Free resurrects a spirit from the 1960's, while
Bottom Of The Sea adds some southern fried, foot-stomping folk-and-roll.
Uh Oh Black Hole! is something like They Might Be Giants performing a traditional Russian dance for the first surfing astronaut brigade. Impressively, Brainstorm know just when and where to take their songs...nothing here is forced or feels contrived - it's zany not by design, but by nature...and it all works brilliantly. It's hard to believe this is just two guys (with occasional guest female vocals).
Catchy, inventive, and full of energy, Brainstorm are an exploratory playground of awesomeness...like a rock-and-roll ice cream truck operated by a poetry professor - and it's just as beautiful as it is unusual. You have to hear it for yourself...
The entire album is available on their bandcamp page
here. It is highly recommended. 5/5
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