Little Red Lung’s debut full-length “Beware” is intermittently lovely and bewildering, but only sometimes on purpose.
Art rock is an inherently clumsy term. Like “world music,” itap useful for critics insofar as it gets a quick point across. But in both cases the description is reductive, borderline ignorantly, (world music: “this music isn’t popular Western fare”; art rock: “this music sounds ‘art-y’”) to the point that the genres used by everyone but the band in question.
L.A.’s Little Red Lung is an exception. Among the hashtags bands use on Soundcloud to help users find music, there sits #artrock, both pretentious in theory and unassuming in its use: Where most bands by the feature, Little Red Lung embraces it, cutting to the chase.
And yeah, itap the easiest way to describe “Beware.” The band’s Bandcamp-released full-length debut revels in the genres ostensible hallmarks—meter changes, quizzical lyrics and a general neglect of pop instincts. They’re driven by frontwoman Zoe-Ruth Erwin’s practiced quaver, the most distinct component of the music. She graces the album’s with a delicate hook, setting the stage for themes to come and hinting at a sense of space: “Beware beware, itap vicious out there.”
However, the intro turns out to be a bait and switch. With a buzzing bass, the album introduces rock into the mix hereafter, falling fast into a manic gloom thatap less becoming. “Porcupine Sheet” is the first taste and itap bewildering, like listening to three Modest Mouse songs at the same time. It builds sharply before dropping into an alt-rock noodle fest, which Erwin interrupts with the first of a few awkward lines on the album: “We can’t go faster with this porcupine sheet.” Itap a comical image, and at the expense of the harrowing atmosphere the rest of the song sails for. “Get On The Boat” is more of a misadventure in song structure than songwriting (though itap not without its bungling nautical metaphors), as Erwin’s voice pitches to meet intermittent violins jimmied into a stuffy chunk of prog shlock.
At large, “Beware” sounds like an arranged marriage of disparate ideas. Around midway, there’s an interlude tellingly titled “Prelude,” as if to hit the reset button on a series of bad takes. Here again, Little Red Lung begins subtly, teasing out atmospheric sounds that bleed into “Civilian Tiger,” the album’s rightful centerpiece. Where delicate melody and harsh rock are equally represented but never compromised elsewhere, they finally mix here and it all-but audibly clicks. The irony? For an album that values the unique over accessibility, itap the most pop-sensible cut.
Little Red Lung’s art rock label would imply “Beware” is purposeful throughout all of this. Taking the album as a whole, there’s no shortage of ambition here—mini-narratives, meta-narratives and in about every way possible, a near-constant invocation of water that’d . Even its bi-polar swings are clearly purposeful, drawing the listener into a false sense of security before smacking them upside the head. (Such is life.) But when that sense of security is shielding you from a band’s most ham-handed tendencies, itap just obvious that these art rockers aren’t yet in full control of their art rock.
