CD Reviews

Indian Jewelry | Totaled

We Are Free (2010)

By JONATHAN DONALDSON | May 4, 2010

3.0 Stars

Mystery and confusion are sexy, and Indian Jewelry get that. From the lost ruins of their vocals to the fuzz and feedback shot through their tightly produced tracks, the Houston psych band maintain a tranced-out, sexy, subterranean groove over the course of their fourth full-length.

Lead single “Oceans” shows their ability to stuff a vast textural vocabulary into a tidy, capsular pop format: radiating waves of percussion, an elemental guitar line, and a spiked bass groove evoke the more sinister dance elements of Closer-era Joy Division. Singer Erika Thrasher’s delicate turn on “Excessive Moonlight” is like the sonic equivalent of black licorice — dark, idiosyncratic, with an insistent aftertaste. (They could almost be the bizarro Beach House.)

These pop elements take abstract turns on “Diamond Things,” where repositioned drumbeats begin to resemble baile funk, and delay-damaged vocals and synths morph into a sort of spectral spray. For a band known more for untamed drones and out-there sonics, Totaled’s tempering of pop and experimentation is a welcome new feel.

INDIAN JEWELRY + HEALTH | Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | June 19 @ 9 pm | $10 | 21+ | 617.566.9014 or greatscottboston.com

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