Fruit Bats - Mouthfuls '2003

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Rainbow Sign (Album)
02. A Bit Of Wind (Album)
03. Magic Hour (Album)
04. The Little Acorn (Album)
05. Track Rabbits (Album)
06. Union Blanket (Album)
07. Lazy Eye (Album)
08. Slipping Through The Sensors (Album)
09. Seaweed (Album)
10. When U Love Somebody (Album)

On Mouthfuls, the Fruit Bats tone down the twang of their debut, Echolocation,
and offer something closer to a mix of late-'60s/early-'70s folk and bubblegum
shot through with unpredictable electronic elements that, paradoxically, make
the group's music seem even more homemade and organic. Most of the songs have
sunny, winding melodies and arrangements that twist and turn until they end up
in a completely different place than where they began; "A Bit of Wind" starts
out as a simple, jangly singalong and gradually adds a brass band, strings, and
flutes until it becomes a sweeping pop symphony. The lilting vocals and
bittersweet harmonies on "Rainbow Sign" and "Magic Hour" call to mind the Fruit
Bats' labelmates, the Shins, although the Fruit Bats' brand of summery,
psych-tinged pop is much mellower. From beginning to end, Mouthfuls radiates
laid-back contentment, but it's to the band's credit that this vibe rarely dips
into laziness or complacency, even on relatively simple pastoral interludes like
"Track Rabbits." Actually, there's a lot going on within the album's serenity,
especially on tracks like "Union Blankets," which features an intricate mix of
programmed and live percussion underneath its strummy acoustic guitars and close
harmonies, and on "The Little Acorn," which begins as a drifting, Radar
Brothers-esque ballad before adding sparkling synths and soft rock-inspired
backing vocals. Toward the end of Mouthfuls, the Fruit Bats return to the
country-folk fusions of Echolocation, and while they're still very pretty, they
don't quite capture the imagination the way the album's earlier, more
experimental tracks do. Still, when an album is as effortlessly warm and pretty
as this one is, it's hard to begrudge the band a return to more familiar sonic
pastures, and even more so when Mouthfuls suggests that the Fruit Bats' next
album will be even more winning.



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