REVIEW: BOBBY - Bobby

BOBBY - Bobby
MMM1/2

The name “Bobby” doesn’t evoke too much with its simplicity and ambiguity. In a sense, it’s a word that leaves a lot to the imagination – and little concrete detail. You can try Googling it, but you won’t come up with too much. For a band, the name is one of the most generic choices out there, and yet, this BOBBY is anything but generic – or simplistic. In fact, Bobby, the band’s debut, is one of the most fluid yet meticulous albums of the year.

Upon graduating from Bennington College, Tom Greenberg and fellow classmates Julian Labat, Molly Erin Sarle, Amelia Randall Meath, Roby Moulton, Paolo Menuez (alum of Hampshire College), and Martin Zimmermann moved into a house in Montague, a small, remote Massachusetts town, all for the purpose of recording what would become their debut album. Isolated from distractions and familiarity, the band clearly had nothing to filter or stunt the development of their music, allowing them the opportunity to dream and be ambitious without regard to anything but their own aspirations; they had no one to answer to outside of each other. And because of this, the band created something highly personable and evocative, as well as limitlessly beautiful – especially when it comes to the wonderful harmonies shared between Greenberg and Sarle* (who is also one third of the a cappella/indie folk band Mountain Man).

The tracks that make up Bobby certainly play well individually, but, in the context of the entire record, they create something much more profound and affecting. It’s a rather comprehensive sound, with the euphoric aura of dream pop, the moving textures of ambient, the humble ruminating of folk, the mesmerizing tones of psych, the blissful undercurrent of shoegaze, the shy, quirky charm of indie rock, and the experimental ambition and urges of avant-garde. Through a consistent and well-exercised use of polyrhythm, BOBBY manage to create sonic mazes that you want to get lost in. Layering a multitude of tones and rhythms sounds like cause for a disorienting mess, but, here, the band winds up with a cohesive, enchanting mix of everything from synthesizers to lap steel to angelic, reverb-veiled voices.

Album opener “We Saw,” a stately baroque pop/indie folk song, is easily one of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous songs of the year – which distracts from the fact that, while it is a gripping song, it is stylistically much different from everything that follows it. “Sore Spores” is a playful charmer that sticks with you thanks to an unassuming theme of melancholy. “Ginger (Water Birth)” is an electropop meets indie pop tune that’s just as soothing and pleasant as it is haunting. “Groggy” is an aurora borealis of sound: bold, bright, and shimmering with an array of various tones, samples, guitar and bass riffs, and percussive lines.

Clocking in at just over one hour, Bobby is a bit of a commitment – at least if you want to truly enjoy it. With tracks generally lasting between four to seven minutes, the songs can feel a bit longer than necessary – and it may have been more succinct if it weren’t for the extensive measures of ambient explorations – but it’s apt to consider that shorter songs would have detracted from the album’s spirit of wonderment. It’s a lot to take in, but that can also be half the fun. And, for a band that’s not much more than a year old, it’s incredibly exciting to think about where they might head next with their sound – let alone the fact that the album sounds like it’s the product of an experienced band but is actually their introductory statement.

There’s something to be said for albums that tear you away from reality, those albums that draw you inside – and that’s exactly what Bobby does. It is an album that rewards the careful listener, proving that underneath its dreamy surface are thoughtful, careful arrangements that serve to both color and shade the music. It’s a perfect balance between texture and mood that makes time seem nearly irrelevant, placing the present in a state of flux. Bobby is a dream, one that you can melt away in and interpret as you please.

* Sarle performs on the record, but is only an occasional touring member. Meath (also a member of Mountain Man) is the primary touring member of the band.

Bobby is out today on Partisan Records.

MP3: BOBBY - "Ginger (Water Birth)"

BOBBY - "Sore Spores"


BOBBY - "Groggy"