Big Orange Crayonmusical thingsFantastic! Sun: What a Wonderful Word! EP Les Disques Aquatic (Distributed in the US by Darla) As September does it's thing and makes it freezing in upstate New York, music like this becomes all the more essential. Even though this EP screams summer, from the slick, laid back summery pop arrangements to its title, it's something you want to have playing around you while you're watching frost form on your window. After all, the music you listen to doesn't have to necessarily reflect your mood and the atmosphere you're in, it's even more pleasant when you can change them. And I might as well battle the boredom and cold that comes with fall with a bit of sultry indie pop. "Fragments", which starts the CD, sets the mood perfectly, with its Bossa Nova groove and melodic trumpet parts. It really a lovely song, even if I do feel ridiculous listening to it in an underheated dorm room in Troy, New York. The rest of the album continues in the same vein, through the equally charming title song, "Brian Wilson" which is sort of an instrumental (there's singing but no words), and "Supernova" which is another sunny (pardon the astronomical pun) romp. The CD ends with "Beauty Queen" which the the most spirited of the bunch, a first-person tale of a mildly sleazy playboy and the trials of being in love with a beauty queen when you're simultaneously jealous of the attention she gets and unable to control your lusting after other women. It's all good-natured fun. Total score: 215 out of 217 |