Fruit Bats Tripper (Sub Pop)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
You can’t accuse the Chicago-based outfit Fruit Bats of a lacking insight when it comes to their major target demographic. For Tripper is just what you’d expect from an indie-pop band signed to Sub Pop, especially one who release LPs with cutesy cartoons on their sleeves.
Their fifth studio album (and fourth for the legendary Seattle imprint) avails itself of the twisted, twinkly indie-rock blueprint established by such Sub Pop-associated acts as The Shins (with whom Fruit Bats singer Eric Johnson has previously worked), Built To Spill and Avi Buffalo: the latter’s lead vocalist Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg guests here too.
The whimsical psych-folk of ‘Shivering Fawn’ evokes Devendra Banhart, but Johnson’s piercing falsetto on brusque brush-off ‘The Banishment Song’ and the transcendental, Mercury Rev-flavoured ‘Wild Honey’ ensure the twee levels never start to grate.
Artists in this article: Fruit Bats
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