Premiere: Bruiser and Bicycle—’You’re All Invited’ EP
Posted: by The Editor
There’s something eerie about a project titled You’re All Invited when its cover art is full of cockeyed clowns that recall the unnerving back corners of psychedelia. Although Bruiser and Bicycle‘s output isn’t as inherently creepy as its visual accompaniment, there’s a spectral air to the five tracks on You’re All Invited that beckons you in like a phantom’s call. The warm, bubbly bassline; fluttery, breathy vocal intonations; ghastly organ lines; and erratic shrieks of grisly distortion on opener “Trading Paint For Kisses” makes it an obvious soundtrack for the alluring yet uncanny atmosphere of late fall. The Albany, NY quartet sink into deep, nippy grooves that urge their drawn-out tunes forward like a brisk wind, bolstering the ominous repetition of a line like, “just watch your back/don’t panic,” on the disconcertingly titled “I Sense Something Bad is Happening.” Similar to artists like Spencer Radcliffe and Crumb, it’s difficult to note exactly what makes Bruiser and Bicycle so apparitional; something about their music is just innately chilling.
You’re All Invited isn’t all spooky, though. Some serious In Rainbows-era Radiohead propulsion shows up on “A Puzzle,”(as well as a post-rocky build that recalls their neighbors in Jouska), and “Come Sit With Me (Oh!)” is the boppiest of the bunch, melding the emo-pop of Brightside with the kaleidoscopic vocal layering of (Sandy) Alex G’s Beach Music. There’s a lot to unravel with this project. It’s ambitiously long for a debut EP (not counting their two-song 7″ they dropped in May), the production is air-tight, and although the structuring of some of these tracks can be a bit dizzying, there are so many truly clever passages on here that exceed this group’s incredibly short lifetime. I sense something good is happening here.
Stream You’re All Invited below:
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Eli Enis | @eli_enis
