Brown Recluse / Soft Skin

Slumberland

Brown Recluse Sings formed in 2006 around the core of Timothy Meskers and Mark Saddlemire. Taking influence from the psych pop of The Zombies and Margo Guryan, the tropicalia of Os Mutantes, and '60s producers like Joe Meek and Phil Spector, the two recorded and released the six-song Black Sunday EP, an electrifying blast of pop invention that boasts blinding song-craft, skilled arrangements, and gorgeous playing. It's rare to hear a record so assured from such a young band. 2006 and 2007 saw the duo expand to a six-piece live band that played numerous shows on the East Coast, writing new material and winning new fans along the way. The fact that they've played with groups as varied as The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Tyvek, Dirty Projectors, Matt and Kim, and Meneguar gives some indication of the wide-reaching influences this band takes in. The Soft Skin was recorded in mid-2007; after delays with the original release, it has now come out on Slumberland Records. The four songs show an increasingly confident full-band line-up stretching out and reaching a new plateau. A pastoral, psychedelic vibe permeates the EP, bringing to mind the sunshine pop of Curt Boettcher's The Millennium and Sagittarius projects and such familiar touchstones as Brian Wilson, Belle & Sebastian, The Clientele, and the Elephant 6 collective. This is pretty heady company to keep, but perfectly realized songs like "Night Train" and "Rainy Saturday" more than hold their own. Brown Recluse Sings are hard at work on their debut album for Slumberland due late 2009, but until then The Soft Skin makes an excellent introduction to the band and an ideal soundtrack for the summer.

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