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CD review: Harlem - ‘Hippies’
‘Hippies’
(Matador)
Grade: B+
Harlem’s approach is easy to sum up: The Austin band’s serious about what it does, but not necessarily how it does it. On sophomore album and Matador Records debut “Hippies,” the famously anything-goes, self-deprecating band makes 16 tracks of sweaty, strummy, infectious spare rock look almost frustratingly effortless. You don’t make an album this fun without working very hard, but Harlem tries its darndest to make it look like its members weren’t trying — the record kicks off with the casually cruel lyricisim of “Someday Soon” and segues quickly into “Friendly Ghost,” a Casper-referencing nugget of pure jangle-pop perfection that’s almost clinical in how carefully it pokes every riff-loving pleasure center in the brain. “Cloud Pleaser” is an appealing song of heartbreak that slows the tempo down a bit, while scorchers like “Number One” and “Faces” shoot past at less than two minutes each, less songs than interludes designed to keep the listening experience fresh.
And when Harlem branches out a bit — as on “Prairie My Heart,” with its country-western amble — they show an impressive range lurking just under their straightforward garage rock song. “Hippies” doesn’t break a whole lot in the way of new ground, and it won’t change your life — but it does improve substantially on debut album “Free Drugs,” and for a band that makes fun its chief goal, it hits the mark.
— Patrick Caldwell
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