Brown Recluse-Impressions of a City Morning

While I patiently wait for Pet Milk to release any form of new music (seriously, what's taking them?!), I found out recently that Pet Milk is actually a side project for the band Brown Recluse. Brown Recluse have been kicking around for a while, having released their a few singles and EPs here and there, mainly for the quiet possible the best indie pop label around, Slumberland. After all this time Brown Recluse are prepping for their debut album Evening Tapestry to be released on... Slumberland. And while Pet Milk favored a much louder and Pains of Being Pure At Heart sound to their music, Brown Recluse are much more in debt to the sound of Belle and Sebastien. Next to The Crayon Fields, this is one band truly trying to recapture the subtle pop tones of B&S, with pitch perfect vocal harmonies and organ sound as proof.



Links:

Brown Recluse on myspace
Pre-Order Evening Tapestry here, at Slumberland Records

Cassette Review: Pet Milk-Demo

Ladies and gentlemen, please met this year's Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Truly, it's a real wonder as to why Slumberland hasn't signed this band yet. OK, technically they have, because this is the side project of a member of Brown Recluse, but really Pet Milk need to start putting out some records ASAP. Tunes these great don't deserve to be limited to just a Bandcamp page or a soon to be very hard to find to find cassette demo.

The hyperbole comparison to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart was only a mild overstatement. It's impossible to miss the similarities to POPPAH, with these six perfectly indie/fuzzy pop tunes following the same Sarah Records/C86/My Bloody Valentine worship that POPPAH did. However, their debut from last year, this is in no way a bad thing. "Cherry Outline" is a perfect guitar pop song, tart with its fuzz but ever so sweet with the 30 different hooks thrown in as well. Else where tunes of loss capsuled in a post shoegaze song ("Pictures of You"), and new love in simple indie jangle ("Permanent Vacation") abound. It's neat how the female singer of the band Adriane takes over for the other 3 songs (including a excellent cover of My Bloody Valentine's "Paint A Rainbow", back when that band was more twee then shoegaze masters), adding another layer to the songs and the band as well. The last song "Always Knew It Coudn't Stay" is the closest to mind blowing though, and might match the greatness of their "Cherry Outline". A mixture of Pavement's "Major League" vocal delivery and the repetitive rhythmic beat and melody of that Manatee single from earlier this year, it is a near flawless slice from the indie pop cake.

This can be bought as either a 4 dollar cassette from the band, or free from their Bandcamp page. It does exactly what a demo should do, showcase a band with mountains of potential. Plus the artwork is just great.

Update: The self made demo cassettes the band made actually had to be scraped when a defect was discovered with them. An official released will be done by local Philadelphia label Peasant Magik and is expected in a month.

(mp3) Pet Milk-Cherry Outline

Links:

Pet Milk on Bandcamp