Review
Does You Inspire You
(Kanine Records)
Release Date: 09/30/2008 12:00
Reviewed by Alex Benenson
This Brooklyn-by-way-of-Colorado trio’s specialty—new-age nonsense meets ’80s synth pop—is the musical equivalent of those T-shirts featuring nighttime wilderness scenes and Native American chieftains: kitsch-hip goofiness suffused with a simple and endearing Midwest charm. Caroline Polachek carries the melodic weight with a breathy and nimble contralto (think Dido), and she has a knack for enjoying childlike fantasies without sounding immature: On “Planet Health,” she sighs about the food pyramid, stop-drop-and-roll, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and other fifth-grade health-class staples—it’s a molasses-covered, electro-funk fantasy of innocence, and it throbs like Prince on sizzurp. Throughout, atmospheric ennui tugs against upbeat synth-pop—this band is best when it’s got a beat. Witness “Evident Utensil,” doubtless the best dance track ever written about a pencil.

DOWNLOAD “Planet Health,” “Evident Utensil”
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