Picnic, Lightning by Garlands (Review)
The production on the album is top-notch, the instruments sound crisp and clean.
I’ve been listening to a lot of electronic music lately, like the latest from Joy Electric and Autechre (never thought you’d see those two bands in the same sentence, did you?!?). In fact, I think I forgot what guitar-oriented pop sounded like. After wading through all of that “out there” music, it was actually a relief to listen to Garlands.
Right from the get go on “Bird On The Make,” Garlands plays a very aggressive (in a nice way) power pop. Jangling guitars, breathy vocals, and clean production run throughout all of this. It shouldn’t be a big surprise that fans of Ivy will dig this one, because Andy Chase had a role in mixing this album.
The production on the album is top-notch, the instruments sound crisp and clean. Guitar melodies careen and bounce around. The music doesn’t get too dreamy, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on your opinion. But it never gets too predictable. This is the kind of stuff my roommate, who’s a huge fan of pop music, would go ape over.
To be honest, this is not exactly something I would normally have listened to or purchased, but I was thrown off guard a couple of times. At times, what sounded like your standard “pop” fare would suddenly get an undercurrent of something deeper, a bassline reminiscent of a Cure song or a guitar riff that didn’t go quite like I expected. I think that’s what kept me coming back and listening to it time and again, rather than dismissing it.

Welcome to Opus. My name’s Jason Morehead and I’ve been blogging for 20+ years. To date, I’ve posted 4,036 articles on numerous topics including music, movies, anime, pop culture, web development, technology, and religion.
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