Candy Claws | Hidden Lands

twosyllable (2010)
By CARRIE BATTAN  |  August 10, 2010
2.5 2.5 Stars

1008_candyclaws_mian

Creating the sonic and æsthetic impression that they're roaming the landscapes and seascapes painted on vintage postcards sold for 25 cents apiece in dusty piles near thrift-store cash registers, Colorado-based Candy Claws are shameless themesters.

Even more so than In the Dream of the Sea Life — a conceptual debut full-length on which they used self-recorded oceanic sounds from beaches around the world — Hidden Lands is a dreamland of musical symbolism. Breathy, childish, girl-boy vocals fade and lyrics become incomprehensible beneath a haze of twinkling synths and clever replications of horseshoe clip-clops. It's more than just forests and oceans being simulated here, though. In 10 tracks, the eight-piece band manage to touch on a kitschy range of melodies that evoke carnivals and carousels, Leave It to Beaver–era TV commercials, and taffeta-clogged waltzes.

The result is a very delicate and tuneful sophomore effort, but it's so drenched in gimmickry and conceptual cutesiness that you can't take it seriously, not even as soundtrack music. Unless Candy Claws are looking to foray into the world of Christmas albums, they need to scale back the sugar-coated imagery.

Related: Photos: Metric at House of Blues, The Big Hurt: Faces refaced, A band, a part, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Colorado,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY CARRIE BATTAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   MAIN ATTRAKIONZ | 808S AND DARK GRAPES II  |  September 07, 2011
    Following a steady stream of low-budget tracks, mixtapes, and videos posted on their Tumblr this year, the Bay-area stoner rap duo of Squadda B and MondreM.A.N. (a/k/a Main Attrakionz) have raised the stakes by offering up something that resembles a traditional release.
  •   LIL B | I'M GAY (I'M HAPPY)  |  July 19, 2011
    Gone are the endless declarations of hoes on his dick in groups of 30 and 100; gone are the claims that he is everyone from Ellen Degeneres to Miley Cyrus.
  •   SHABAZZ PALACES | BLACK UP  |  June 09, 2011
    The musical reincarnation of Ishmael Butler, the elusive Seattle rapper who makes up one-third of the semi-popular '90s jazz-rap act Digable Planets under the name Butterfly, is a lot to unpack.
  •   FRIENDLY FIRES | PALA  |  June 07, 2011
    For a densely layered, expertly produced dance-rock album, this second full-length from British three-piece Friendly Fires is perplexingly bland.
  •   THE WEEKND | HOUSE OF BALLOONS  |  April 27, 2011
    Self-release (2011)

 See all articles by: CARRIE BATTAN