For the Love of Lo-Fi
From first glance at their bio, you might expect Library Voices to sound a bit different than they do. Boasting a lineup of seven musicians (they started at ten!) who play horns, stringed instruments and even analog synths, along with your standard rock instruments, they are not the ska band that is evoked by that description. Instead they are a lo-fi and utterly endearing indie pop band with an edge that’s lying right under the surface. Though it seemed like the band had broken up after 2011’s Summer of Lust, two years later the group of friends decided to rejoin and work on what would eventually become Lovish.
“All your heroes, they’re all assholes,” are the first words on this album, sung by Brennan Ross (the first of many voices to be featured throughout the record) on the deceptively poppy opening track “Oh Donna.” And with that, the tone of the album is set. While it is an album primarily about love, Library Voices makes no claim that Lovish is a collection of love songs, and the sardonic yet sweet vibe introduced in the first song is prevalent throughout the record. “Zzyzx” is the first song where you really start to hear the full band. Up until this point, it’s been hard to discern that there were more than four musicians playing, with very few glimpses of their more non-traditional instruments. From that point on, the horns get their due focus in songs like “Escape Artist.” Though you hear more of them in the rest of the record, Lovish definitely could have used more of the big sound brought in by the extra instruments, it’s a big part of what gives the band a step up over other equally-as-cute-and-moody indie pop. “Fangs of Love” stands out as one of the highlights on the album. Catchy, groovy and with a solid dose of fuzz, it’s some of the best that Library Voices has to show on this record, and will hopefully lay the groundwork for songs to come.
Though it seemed on more than one occasion that this record was doomed to never be released, Lovish managed to battle the odds and make for a perfect record to accompany the changing seasons. Library Voices are moving in an exciting direction, adding more fuzz and a harder edge to their sound has really stepped their game up, and if we’re lucky maybe we’ll be able to see more from them soon.
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