The debut from Bachelor, Doomin' Sun, out on Friday via Polyvinyl, is likely to attract listeners who are already fans of Ellen Kempner's Palehound and Melina Duterte's Jay Som. However, I barely knew anything about those acts and I liked this Bachelor release quite a bit. I think this is being marketed a certain way, as the result of a close relationship, and yet there's a real DIY fire in some of these cuts. And enough fire burns here that the record stands on its own terms as a distinctive release whether you're aware of that relationship, or the other bands from these two musicians.
"Stay in the Car" and "Spin Out" are woozy indie rockers, laid-back hooks and off-kilter rhythms anchoring these to a place somewhere between Suzanne Vega when she went weird and the proto-dream pop of Swirlies. Bachelor are more interested in delivering straightforward numbers, though the ornaments of lo-fi adorn all of the offerings here. Some of Doomin' Sun is given over to down-tempo rambles, compositions that are as heartfelt as the other selections here are fierce, but even a few of those catch sparks. I'd even go so far as to say that the lush "Aurora" is the real highlight here, a number that finds Kempner and Duterte achieving real bliss through the blending of the disparate styles that pulse through the whole album. That one cut is elegant, but there's a charm in the rougher selections here too, of course. And Doomin' Sun is damn near impossible not to enjoy.
Doomin' Sun is out on Friday via Polyvinyl Record Co.
More details on Bachelor via the group's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Polyvinyl]