Amazing Baby

Rewild (Artist First)

By Christine Werthman
Published: June 23rd, 2009 | 7:00am

Amazing Baby is not-so-boldly going where others have gone before. This Brooklyn band is walking on psych-pop territory recently tread by fellow Brooklynites MGMT. Though the general vibe — a background of swirling instrumental reverb and vocals sung through a haze of guitar, synths, and drums for maximum psychedelic experience — sounds similar, there’s plenty to differentiate Amazing Baby from its peers.

Contrary to its name, Amazing Baby plays music with an older, more classic '70s psych sound. While MGMT’s Andrew Van Wyngarden sings like a scrappy teen skate rat, Amazing Baby’s Will Roan has more mid-range vocals with hints of T. Rex’s Marc Bolan mixed with Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music. The tracks do not sound like bland copycats of ’70s classics, but instead mix floaty orchestral parts with harder psych-rock elements. The only track that reaches a totally retro level is “Dead Light,” where Roan’s dreamy-eyed vocals slink around thudding drums and double-layered guitars.

Rewild is a cohesive album, but the tracks reveal a wide range of sound play. Opener “Bayonets” features a heavy intro of crashing drums followed by high-pitched, stadium-ready guitars, jangling tambourine, string instruments whose dips and slides make them sound like sitars, and a chorus of “The kids are alright.” “The Narwhal” offers up more non-Western musical references, with a tinny acoustic guitar snaking out sitar-like melodies while Roan half sings, half chants the lyrics. “Invisible Palace” leads with a loud and large brass opening, befitting of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. But instead of finding Cave and his deep rock-preacher vocals on the other side of the brass fog, you find Roan — likely sitting on a lily pad and smoking a hookah, singing in a tripped-out voice that may soon lull many psych-pop listeners into Amazing Baby's music den.

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