- Music
- 07 Jul 09
Pittsburgh gene-splicers manage to overcome three minute attention deficit barrier
Coming off like some sort of happy horror film (if there is such a thing) the sprawling, tripped out sound of Black Moth Super Raindow is both sweet and sour. Juxtaposing lyrics like “Iron Lemonade, eat my face away” with saccharine melodies, the Pittsburgh experimentalists really do love breaking down musical barriers. Led by vocoder toting frontman Tobacco (considering the nature of the record, we reckon he should rename himself Weed instead) the music is full of synthy goodness and under-water vocals and they splice genres without a care in the world.
Some of their songs tend to be a bit bubblegum: great at first, but kinda boring after three minutes (‘Smile The Day After Today’, ‘The Sticky’) though tasty pop nuggets like ‘Iron Lemonade’ and ‘Twin Of Myself’ make up for that. What is most compelling about Eating Us though, is their ability to fuse together completely different sounds and atmospheres and make it work. ‘The Fields Are Breathing’ mixes jazz, trip hop and easy listening jams and becomes something else completely. Album opener ‘Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise’ is both gloomy and uplifting and in many ways the same can be said for most of what’s on offer here. While the Black Moth Super Rainbow are a confusing bunch, they’re also pretty damn cool too and fans of Air should adore them.
Key Track: ‘Twin Of Myself’