Uncategorized
Dipping Your Toes into Retro Waters: Babe Rainbow’s “Today”
If you haven’t heard of Babe Rainbow, it would not be that difficult to get a vibe of their music based solely on their band name. It actually suites them so well, I would possibly use it as a way to describe any chill 60’s retro borderline psychedelic rock (certainly would be less words). Their latest album Today was released in September of this year. However, if you said 1968, my initial wariness would submerge by track 3. It’s quite special how you’re transformed into this retro, happy-go-lucky parallel universe where nothing can go wrong as if it’s been that way for decades. I often get the urge to be sent there, and all I have to do is let Today whisk me away to a world where “there’s us and the rainbow and everybody else” harmonized into falsettos. You certainly get the Byron Beach, Australia, sunshine and lazy days by the water inspiration throughout with guitar melodies, flutes, and percussion floating you along. As each track begins, you feel the warmth on your face and your head bobbing slowly and believe you’re prepared for where you’ll be taken. Tracks like “Beasty” and “Many Moons of Love” are these classic easy-going and upbeat songs that make MGMT’s 60’s comparisons feel quite distant. Favorite song on the album is “Morning Song.” I would like this tune played in a Truman Show-esque way at the beginning of my day for the rest of my life (I have a Philips Wake-up Light Alarm clock and it is amazing, so unfortunately your “easy solution” won’t work). “Morning Song” brightens your spirits in the most wonderful of ways, filled with carefree kindness. Like a blanket of love to wrap yourself up in before embarking on your day. You almost don’t suspect that these catchy vocal melodies (especially in the bridges) and complex instrumental transitions will lift this album to a noteworthy position, and yet, here you are thinking “this album is fantastic!” Comparing it to bands like The Octopus Project, where there is so much going on underneath it all, done in such a fluidly catchy way, that you’d rather just relocate your body to where the music is than break down every melody and instrument, losing the magic. Did I just compare the album to Disney World? That may be going too far.
Check out the “Many Moons of Love” video and find their album on Spotify and here on Apple.