ONE IN THE FLOOD

Gabe Buller pulled off a spectacular album here, and impressively this is an album that in construction is simple, but in performance comes out wonderfully complex and odd. The style he works with on this record is essentially a progressive take on the White Stripes half of the garage rock revival: pretty much working with guitar and drums only, pretty rough, loud, and lo-fi, and from the start willing to do all sorts of irregular, noisy, and strange things with the guitar. Buller mainly works with drums, acoustic and electric guitars, and a curiously played mandolin, but with his proggy and avant garde tendencies he makes a smashing piece of avant garage prog. "Stakes" opens with the closest Buller would put himself to "Icky Thump", and also includes elements of noise. Some of the vocals are quite strange and noisy here. Beyond, it's mostly prog garage's take on acoustic pieces, ever crazed and off. That curiously played mandolin is the real show stealer outside of the opening track, sounding like nothing else you've ever heard in your life, maybe closest to a sitar played by a drunken demon. Buller, push comes to shove, takes a few of the already art friendly genres and styles of indie music and makes them particularly experimental and complex. Not just recommended for avant prog fans, but also to indie kids who love The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips in equal measure.