Don't Get Excited from Brooklyn's Lost Gloves drops TODAY!

  CMJ 2013 is finally over, and I have to admit, I'm still catching my breath a little bit. I was an absurdly hectic week for me with the bands and showcases and the music and the day job and all of that, etc. etc. But I was happy to be in the thick of it, and now I'm happy it's over. It's nice to get back to writing about new releases, and today we have a fresh, out of the oven, so hot it'll burn the roof of your mouth, brand spankin' new 7" from Brooklyn's Lost Gloves. You may remember them from our showcase on August 1st of this year (2013 if you're counting. I stopped in '09), which they played and were excellent. Check out the interview if you need to refresh your memory.

Just chillin' on the street.

  Anyway, Don't Get Excited is quirky without getting too cute, and interesting while remaining playful. I don't really know what sub-genre to stick them in, and I think that's very telling. Lost Gloves changes texture and feel quickly within songs, which always keeps the listeners on their toes. You never know when they are going to transfer from a keyboard lead that almost feels like a "96 Tears-esque" 60's garage rock, into a guitar driven passage reminiscent of 70's prog. Let's go through the EP song by song.

GET EXCITED

Don't Get Excited opens with the title track, which is a frantic feeling pop rocker and features a really nice push and pull between the keys and a chunky rhythm guitar lick. Lead vocalist Brian Goodheart always has this nervous urgency to his vocals, and they really fit well with this track. Around the 1:47 mark, the rhythm really straightens out and gives you a sense of perspective on the earlier jerky rhythm.




The second track, Nothing Yet, has a bouncy 8-bit quality that is best described as a Casio and a Nintendo entering a faulty transporter, and winding up with a mix of each other's molecules when they are re-materialized at their destination. The chorus slows a little in feel (is this the right way/or is this the long way down?), then returns to another pokey verse section, a couple of high velocity interludes, and back to a chorus... It's jumpy and unpredictable, but still works as a song.




Winter Walk is next, and it's the slow, pretty song. It maintains a certain velocity due to a 16th note beat, and the EP doesn't loose a shred of momentum. Really pretty vocal harmonies and an almost Irish sounding lead on the instrumental breaks on this tune. Neat drum beat over the instrumental sections too... I'm kinda a sucker for big snares, so I may be biased on that one.




Finally, the EP closes with Grandmom, which starts out with the biggest guitar sound we've heard so far, and quickly falls into a syncopated, riffy, verse. The keyboard lead that takes over once the track straightens out is money. Lost Gloves have this ability to use the transition from a jerky syncopated section into to a straight four feel, like you would used the harmonic dissonance of the dominant 7th to add to the strength of a V- I cadence. Might have lost some of you there with the music theory, but honestly, that's the best way to describe what they are doing.




Hopefully we'll get a chance to set up another showcase with these guys sometime down the line. In the meantime, they are playing this Thursday at Don Pedro to celebrate the release of Don't Get Excited. It should be an excellent night; HBR favorites Paper Fleet are playing as well.

RSVP to that show ---> here.

Purchase the Vinyl from Bandcamp ---> here.

Like Lost Gloves on Facebook ---> here.

And like HBR on Facebook ---> here.

See you at the show...  ;)