When you think of California, you think of sun, sandy beaches, orange groves and bikini clad women - you can pretty much hear the harmonies and happiness that such things would bring to music from that part of the world. Then you hear the music of a Californian band like Phoenix and the Turtle who instead go altogether deeper into the shadows that come with modern day urban chaos.
This EP starts with "Line Drive" which features indie rock hallmarks like big drums and screeching guitars. Or at least it does until it swerves on to the highway to musical complexity showing almost classical sensibilities as that guitar returns to direct the song down another road towards prog rock city. "514" again shows a grandiose approach with a piano led swirling maelstrom taking the song to a suitably intense and dramatic climax. Though the focus remains on the instruments throughout, the oddly named "Stuart Drives A Comfortable Car" manages to squeeze in a good line or two such as "…I would have blown my brains out if I hadn't lost my mind".
From that last remark, you might well have reached the conclusion that this isn't a collection of happy songs. That's fair comment but the advantage Phoenix and the Turtle have over the preponderance of emo/shoegaze type bands is that they are short of neither musical ideas nor the ability to realise them. Sure, they are melancholic in a sort of Leonard Cohen kind of way but, unlike so many of their contemporaries, they stand tall and proud. Whilst perhaps not the kind of music that you would listen to on your journey into work, there is, however, much to be enjoyed here.
Available from such places as iTunes and CD Baby.