Print Edition: March 19, 2014
Frankie Cosmos
Zentropy
Nineteen-year-old NYC resident Greta Kline has been shyly writing and releasing bedroom recordings on her Bandcamp page for most of her teenage life. In fact, she’s uploaded more than 40 albums and EPs since 2009, which means she’s released more songs in that short span than most artists do in a lifetime. Frankie Cosmos is made up of a trio of musicians that includes the prolific Kline and her boyfriend Aaron Maine (Porches), who write minimalist and infectiously angsty songs about the conventional ups and downs of urban living. Occasional vocal support from Maine — specifically on “Owen” — evokes the harmonies on 69 Love Songs-era Magnetic Fields. Underneath Kline’s simple guitar strums and sweet voice are seemingly innocuous lost-little-girl lyrics that, upon closer inspection, convey a rich feeling of loneliness and paranoia; they could fill much more than a two-minute song. The album’s crowning jewel, “Birthday Song,” may only be 69 seconds long, but sets the standard for Kline’s startling, frank lyrics, “I think how repulsive to you it must be / when I refuse to do the things you want me to.” While the record clocks in at only 18 minutes, Zentropy is packed full of wit, excellent hooks, and human experience.
Dinosaur Bones
Shaky Dream
Imagine Eeyore on drugs. With a megaphone. Tremolo and reverb cranked. Shaky Dream is a forlorn, ambient journey that so often toes the line between gloomy and downright dissonant that you’ll wonder how it sounds as good as it does. The 10-track sophomore album from Toronto alt-rockers Dinosaur Bones is a lesson in balance. For every art-rock breakdown, there’s a garage hook to bring listeners back in. For every cymbal-driven beat, there’s a thumping, guitar-picked bass. Standout track “Sleepsick” maintains a sonic equilibrium of discord, love, and ‘60s reverb. The tonally terrifying “Nothing Left Between the Lines” sounds like the soundtrack for a drowning ballerina — in the best way. “So Brand New” is the happiest song that will ever make you sad, and “End of Life Crisis,” capping the album, is stuffed to the gills with gravelly ambience, oscillating synths, and some atmospheric gloom that’s downright lovely. Shaky Dream is an album that takes two or three listens before it all starts to make sense, but when it does, you’ll be subject to a journey so intense and freakishly raw that you’ll love it more after every listen.
