Curries with a mix of spices and Bollywood films with their mix of ingredients are known as Masala as they take a pinch from here, a scraping from over there and another pinch from the small box that has been sitting on the pantry shelf for over a year. This helps their flavours to appeal to a wider range of people.
New York band The Barrens describe themselves as diverse and daring psychedelic rock.
The band utilize the dual singer approach with both male and female voices both together and individually. An unwary listener is lulled in by the shoegazy indie opener "Claw Remains" and then beaten slowly over the head with the Black Sabbath and Kyuss influenced "Felt". After being hammered down The Barrens lift spirits with the upbeat cheerful pop of "Bottom of The Well". Debbie Chou's voice bestows a dreamy character to "In and Ice" without stealing attention away from the wall of reverb guitar.
My Bloody Valentine fans are likely to drool at "Sagaminopteren Psychedelum". "Yellow Cigarette" toys with casual listeners who are likely to hear the intro and dismiss it as just another pop song. The drums are hammered and the vocals are distorted and a humming bird hovers over the chaos checking in for nectar whenever it feels the desire.
"Better" made me nostalgic for beef noodles, dumplings and scooter chaos because the song is reminiscent of Taiwanese band, Tizzy Bac, who are a better version of Bens Fold Five largely due to female vocals.
The Barrens are definitely a hard group to pin down although they do snuggle reasonably comfortably into the psychedelic rock label. The band's diversity is their strength. The band have found their niche but possess a wilingness to stretch further.
3.5/5
The Barrens on bandcamp
The Barrens on facebook
Small Takeover on facebook
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