Gorilla Manor

by

Local Natives

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After hearing Local Natives play Los Angeles several times, I couldn't wait for Frenchkiss Records to release its USA version of Gorilla Manor next February, so I bought Infectious Records' EU version that dropped last month. (How ironic they've blown up huge in Europe and are still relatively unknown in the States!)

I have to thank a Brit called "The Wolf" for writing the following review of Gorilla Manor and Local Natives; The Wolf said it better than I could:

"Glorious Gorillas in Our Midst

Abso-blinkin-lutely loving this every-which-way. You're going to love it too. Promise.

As incandescent a bunch of songs as I've heard this year and there are a whole healthy dozen of them to be getting on with.

Local Natives hail from Silverlake, California, U.S.A.

They are Taylor Rice (guitar/vocals), Kelcey Ayer (keyboards/vocals), Ryan Hahn (guitar/vocals), Andy Hamm (bass) and Matt Frazier (drums) and together they make a distinctive and beautiful sound.

This is tricky stuff to pin-down so I'll leave it for someone more gifted in the realms of genre sub-divisions to fix this for us later.

What I found here transcends genre in so many ways.

It is BIG music. Heart-warming music. Enveloping and uplifting music. The melodies are complex and absorbing; the singing fresh and vividly alive. These young gentlemen are creating sounds of true substance!

You could plunge in anywhere really and be lifted up by the pure energy and enthusiasm of their committed performances.

Let me tell you about a few of these wonderful compositions.

'Camera Talk' manages to combine a viscerally raw rhythm, under-produced and untainted in the best possible way, with an intoxicating melody and delicious vocal harmonies.

The high-flying violin lifts the energy straight through the roof.

The spirit of CSN&Y lives on in 'Cards and Quarters'. Mr. Frazier's drums hold down a strong but simple beat around which the song unfolds in evermore complex layers. The last chiming chord hangs in the air like the aftertaste of a half-remembered dream.

There is a dream-like quality running through much of this album.

'Airplanes' is unquestionably one of the project's finest compositions. Good-humoured and uplifting in equal measure, I found myself completely (and willingly) swept away by the ensemble's prodigious musicality.

'Sun Hands' has so much passion it is at risk of spontaneously combusting and 'World News' is chock-full of a jolly kind of goodness rarely captured by any band in any time you might care to imagine. Joyful, rapturous stuff!

I'll shut up now !

It's good. It's very, very good ! It's the kind of music to make all of our lives just a little bit richer and more bearable.

(Oh Heck! Sorry I just can't help it.....'Shape Shifter' made just about every hair on my body - from nose to tail - stand to attention!)

I stumbled upon this truly inspiring little band entirely by accident.

Trust me on this one - it's glorious stuff !"

Without creative musical ideas, you're merely a poet with an instrument; without good lyrics, you're merely a soloist with a microphone. Local Natives still have room for lyrical growth, which accounts for half of a song.

That said, let me wholeheartedly compliment their musical endeavors in Gorilla Manor. The drive, the cohesion of harmonies, the instrumentation, the distinct quality of sound: all commendable! Full chordal vocal harmonies are rare, and in that respect, Fleet Foxes are brought to mind in accompanying Local Natives in finding the fullest vocal sounds (harmonically). A melancholy, industrial, and full experimental sound exudes from this album.

In that respect, it would almost be far-reaching to assume this song or that is "the best" on the album. Every song is new! Every song contributes to the variety of this new sound! I will say, however, that pieces of songs such as "Cards & Quarters," "Shape Shifter," and "Who Knows Who Cares" are unexpected and appreciated breaks from the sometimes brash and monotonous drums that carry most of the album's moving, rhythmic sound. Some of the best moments on the album are without the tribal meandering of the drums. It could be argued that many songs share similar qualities, but I believe this to be an emerging consistency in the sound of Local Natives, not a lack of originality. We'll see with future material!

Back to lyrics. Let's be honest: lyrics play a large part (half) in making a song meaningful, relevant, and legitimate. I loved the album upon my first listening!... and then I listened to the lyrics. In that regard, Local Natives have room for experimenting with the connection between sound and lyrics, and that includes the rhythmic consideration of lyrics. For instance, "Airplanes" has the potential of moving every listener (okay, a stretch). But it makes me cringe to pay attention to the lyrics of this truly moving song. "Made of... made of... of wood" seems like such a powerful and climactic musical phrase, ruined by trite, unconnected thoughts. "Taught abroad... taught abroad... in Japan" follows this lyrical gem with hardly any relevance or rhyme, and it ruins what could have been such a moving lyrical thought. And there goes a third of the song already. It settles where it could have shined. Toward the middle of the song the lyrics include the word "encyclopedia" where perhaps two syllables should have gone. It reminds me of someone hopelessly ad-libing their improvised words to another tune. The trend continues in the track "Warning Sign." In this particular song the disappointing lyrics are "move my hair; move it around a lot; I don't care what I remember." Perhaps these lyrical shortcomings don't bother other listeners. To me, however, they scream inadequacy and inexperience. Luckily, the music is creative, engaging, driving, and skillfully executed. I'd be curious to find these lyrics accompanied with disappointing music; I doubt we'd have heard of the band. Local Natives are carried by their varying, original sound. In the coming years, I expect to find Local Natives with a larger audience after they find the emotional, rhythmic, and poetic nuances of their lyrics.