This is one of those times when you shouldn’t judge a band by their album cover. It’s a clear Clip Art job but thankfully The Baudelaires haven’t cut corners in regards to sound production and recording. With their debut this four-piece Melbourne band, named after the French poet Charles Baudelaire, offers a contemporary shoegaze sound that’s surprisingly addictive.
It opens with the rather dreamy Dream Salts, bending slow psychedelic guitar, bass and breezy vocals from front man Grischa Zahren. It’s a lot like Tame Impala’s more subdued songs. Love Ain’t Gone echoes the pop-fun vibe of early Dandy Warhols. It’s the kind of melancholy ‘90s-inspired stuff you can sit and listen to for hours.
Structurally, the third track Where You Go?should have lifted the tempo, progressing the album towards a climax of sorts. Unfortunately it’s much of the same. At over eight minutesHeel-Waver still doesn’t seem to drag on, ticking along nicely with a shoe-tapping bass riff and duelling guitars.
With a surf-rock backing, Smariteerstrasse (the name of a railway station in Berlin) is much bluesier and as the name suggests, so is the closing track Broke Down Blues. Adding in some scratchy vocal effects and harmonica, this sounds a lot like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s latest stuff.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
Best Track: Love Ain’t Gone
If You Like These, You’ll Love This: THE DANDY WARHOLS, DEERHUNTER, KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD, TAME IMPALA
In A Word: Inspired
