Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Buzzard"

After contention with Epic, their former label, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s soldiered on and return today with, Buzzard, their most experimental and loudest album. Transplanting himself from his hometown of Indianapolis to Chicago, singer/guitarist Richard Edwards wrote the album in six months and recruited help from Tim Rutili and Brian Deck of Red Red Meat and Califone as well as longtime So and So’s, Tyler Watkins and Erik Kang. The resulting album is more guitar-based with a sound that replicates the raw emotion in his lyrics with the powerful immediacy of their live show, for an album unlike anything they have done before.

Album opener, “Birds” finds the band embracing the abrasive as it opens with soft, yearning verses before crashing down with stabs of distorted guitar on the choruses, with a pretty piano-led middle part and strange sound effects holding it all together. “Let’s Paint Our Teeth Green” plays like damaged classic rock with haunting background vocals and winding guitars for a standout moment. The guitar-led first single, “New York City Hotel Blues” is a catchy and jangly pop song with lyrical bite and showcases the shift from the chamber pop of their past releases. Similarly, “Will You Love Me Forever” is fitted with bright, soft chugging guitars and scathing, noisy Califone-like outbursts that take the place of the violins. And “Claws Off” burns with loose, sliding guitars with a nod to 90’s slacker rock. Standout track “Tiny Vampire Robot” is a plaintive ballad with a humorous dark lyrical twist and subtle horns for a quieter moment. The atmospheric “Freak Flight Speed” opens with layers of guitars colliding and clamoring for space with a propulsive rhythm. “Lunatic, Lunatic, Lunatic” is a bittersweet mostly acoustic ballad with reversed guitars in the middle that have “Brian Deck” written all over them. “I Do” is stripped-down, dripping with heartache, baring Richard’s soul to close out the album.

Longtime Margot fans may bristle at the changes in sound but the experimental louder moments are balanced by the trademark softer moments and make for a complete album in an age of singles and half-hearted filler


Download "New York City Hotel Blues" here: http://cobracamanda.com/music/NYCity_Hotel_Blues.mp3

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