Being Dead - EELS (2024) [Hi-Res]

A little B-52's, a little Pee-Wee's Playhouse, a little Royal Trux on happy pills—the Austin trio Being Dead is kind of a lot. At least when it comes to aesthetics and attitude. There's the backstory, or lack of one: guitarist Falcon Bitch and drummer Shmoofy (known as Gumball on the band's 2023 debut When Horses Would Run) have alternately claimed they met as chimney sweeps, as acrobats or as mechanics working on the animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese. Kitsch, right? But there's something undeniably charming and remarkably brat-free about songs like handclapping "Godzilla Rises"; it's twee pop with some sinew behind it. (The band has added bassist Nicole Roman-Johnston to fill out the proceedings.) Garage-rock drums melt into choral sweetness on "Blanket of My Bone," with Falcon Bitch applying a Connie Stevens-style '60s naivete to the vocals. Dance-party track "Firefighters," meanwhile, starts off sinister with fuzz monster guitar and racing drums, then reveals a candy center before building up its hard shell again. "Rush the flame/ We must contain/ The drama of/ The rising claim/ Stick it to the heat!" go the lyrics, which the band has said are told from the perspective of a firehouse Dalmatian. "Rock n' Roll Hurts" turns a seeming sincerity on its head with a highly annoying interruptive buzz, cracking the band up. "Ballerina" revs itself into a greaser rock riff with a playground chant and "Gazing at Footwear" is a spacecake trip of melody and distortion. Catchy "Nightvisions" feels like a poppier version of Moldy Peaches, and the coffee-house folk of "Problems" evokes both Apples in Stereo and The Mamas & The Papas. Minute-long "I Was a Tunnel" sounds like it was sung in, yep, a tunnel. When Shmoofy and Falcon Bitch really, truly sing on "Goodnight," the harmonies are almost angelic, even as the song gets progressively crunchier, the guitars and drums more and more aggressive. When the music finally blossoms into a garage-rock frug, just give in. © Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:
1 Godzilla Rises
2 Van Goes
3 Blanket of my Bone
4 Problems
5 Firefighters
6 Dragons II
7 Nightvision
8 Gazing at Footwear
9 Big Bovine
10 Storybook Bay
11 Ballerina
12 Rock n' Roll Hurts
13 Love Machine
14 I Was a Tunnel
15 Goodnight
16 Lilypad Lane