Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

by Ben on March 3rd, 2010

Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
February 16th, 2010
Frenchkiss Records
Score: 8.0

This has already been a big year for established indie bands. Spoon, Los Campesinos!, and Johanna Newsom have new records out and Ted Leo, The New Pornographers, LCD Soundsystem, as well as Broken Social Scene have ones on the way. How do you break into this scene if you’re up-and-coming rather than already here-and-staying? You write a record as good as Gorilla Manor.

Local Natives come from a growing lineage of indie-rock bands that use tight, multi-layered, almost classical-sounding harmonies in service of grandiose indie-rock. As a result, they are fairly easy to categorize. Reviews almost always bring up Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear. Those comparisons are valid to a point, but in some ways Local Natives push this subgenre in a different and incredibly gratifying direction. Grizzly Bear is an undeniable monster, but their best moments come on the songs where they abandon some measure of complexity in the interest of making big ass pop-rock songs (‘Two Weeks’ and ‘While You Wait For The Others’ are the two most obvious examples). Local Natives take this idea to its logical extension, and Gorilla Manor’s most successful moments are the result.

Gorilla Manor is at its best when focusing on the catchier, R&B style of rock used most recently by Dirty Projectors on Bitte Orca(‘Airplanes’ and ‘Who Knows, Who Cares’ are two great examples) or when leaving the harmonies behind and allowing the raw edges to show (‘Sun Hands’, ‘Camera Talk’). All of these songs have surprising and moving moments. In fact, the places where the album is at its weakest are the songs where they sound too Grizzly-Bear-y. ‘Cards And Quarters’, for example, never goes anywhere. It stays pretty but stagnant and curtails the momentum from the first half of the record.

But my what a first half of a record it is. ‘Wide Eyes’ kicks things off with a slow build that sets the stage for the fireworks to come. It is far from the most memorable track but it is pleasant enough. ‘Airplanes’ brings in a bit of (initially) unexpected rhythm and blues and the obvious desperation in the chorus (“I want you back, back, back”) is rewarding. Similarly, ‘Sun Hands’ starts slow, but when the electric guitars and the tuneless chanting kick in, it turns into a barn-burner. It is these raw moments that make certain songs on Gorilla Manor rise above the others, and is what separates Local Natives from other bands of their ilk. All four of the opening tracks are very good but it is with ‘Shape Shifter’ that Gorilla Manor begins to flirt with greatness. This song makes it clear that Local Natives are not just focusing on how pretty they can make their harmonies, but also on how to use them in service of a larger song. They jump into the soaring and remarkable chorus with confidence. As they sing “I’ve got control/I shift my shape”, you believe them because the first half of the record has demonstrated a remarkable array of sonic tricks that meld into a cohesive sound. Local Natives are both in exact control of every moment and able to shift styles even within the same song.

Unfortunately, the back half of the record is not quite as strong. ‘Cards And Quarters’ is clearly meant to play as a reprieve, though one isn’t really necessary and album closer ‘Sticky Thread’ is another weirdly depressive track that ends the album on an off note. What keeps side B from weighing down the whole record are the twin beasts of ‘Warning Sign’ (a Talking Heads cover) and the stunning ‘Who Knows, Who Cares’. Including the former on this record is a particularly ballsy move as covering a cornerstone band on one’s debut album could perhaps be a sign of too obviously wearing your influences on your sleeve. Yet it mostly works. They leave behind David Byrne’s stuttering talk-singing and replace it with those ubiquitous harmonies, though the song is most successful during the chorus when they fully embrace the Talking Heads style.

“Who Knows, Who Cares” on the other hand takes all of the R&B elements they had been hinting at throughout the album and focuses them all into one monster track that begs to be butchered on American Idol. Here the lyrics, while treading on well-worn territory concerning new love and the transience of life, are moving and perfectly intertwined with the smooth rawness of the song. ‘Who Knows, Who Cares’ also demonstrates drummer Matt Frazier’s considerable abilities. The whole record contains excellent and inventive drumming, but ‘Who Knows, Who Cares’ shows Frazier at the top of his game.

Overall, you could probably lose a couple of slower tracks and have a perfectly conceived folk, pop, and indie-rock record. Lyrically it is fairly standard, traveling the old hat emo territories of love and heartache, but balances that with a good dose of confidence. It is this confidence that really causes the album to resonate because they capture the uncertainty of the moment but give voice to the idea that everything is going to work out one way or another. “Is my life about to change?/ Who knows, who cares?” Ultimately, Gorilla Manor manages to walk a fine line. Local Natives are certainly traveling a beaten path, but the songwriting is so strong and the hooks so satisfying that it feels fresh. Whether it endures remains to be seen but in a year already filled with great releases, Gorilla Manor is a welcome addition.

Ben Pattison

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