The debut full-length from Mamalarky is an invigorating listen. Full of creative spark, the songs practically pop out of the speakers (or headphones), with the inventiveness of the whole thing being impressive. Featuring members of Cherry Glazerr, White Denim, and other bands, Mamalarky use their self-titled debut on Fire Talk Records to stake out territory that's nearly impossible for any other band to claim.
While "Fury" and a few other numbers here are hard in spots, "You Make Me Smile" and "Cosine" use a deft mix of light jazz elements and Sixties pop to mesh up together into something memorable. There are touches here that recall Broadcast but there are many others that push this into other directions entirely. "Almighty Heat" sounds a lot like early numbers from The Cardigans to me, but the flavors are decidedly more varied here throughout the bright hooks of this one.
Mamalarky juggles the tasks of pleasing a listener with catchy melodies and challenging the same listener with risky musical moves at the same time over and over again. If the shifting tones of "Drug Store Model" and a few others here suggest a band finding its way around free jazz forms, though ones condensed down into pop song-sized bites, other compositions, like the lovely closer "Don't Laugh at Me", reveal an altogether different approach, one which favors a kind of smooth DIY indie that is also choppy in spots, and sleek and cool in others. I suppose a comparison to label-mates Dehd might be in order, though Mamalarky seem more hyper at times. But it's a feverish sort of cleverness that powers this one, along with the charms of Livvy Bennett (Cherry Glazerr), with both leaving Mamalarky one of 2020's most enjoyable records to play start to finish.
Mamalarky is out on Friday via Fire Talk Records
More details on Mamalarky via the band's official website, or their official Facebook page.
[Photo: Sara Cath]