The Morning Benders are a indie pop band from Berkeley, California and have a knack for creating catchy, cavernous songs that have heavy influence from Grizzly Bear. The Bender's first album, Talking Through a Tin Can, features very heavy guitar riffs that set the layers quite nicely for the songs creating a more lo-fi hazy feel. Now their second LP Big Echo brings out more electric fuzzy hazes throughout the album. The first two very attractive tracks "Excuses" and "Promises" might just sum up the whole album right then and there creating a very promising album.
The charm that The Morning Benders bring out immediately in "Excuses" can hook anybody to this album's interior and to get them even more excited is "Promises" a very guitar riff heavy song that progresses into a very exciting melody. But then they slow it down on "Wet Cement" creating a more swing feel to the tom-tom hits with very hazy guitars fluttering around the edge that creating a very pretty ballad.
The next track "Cold War (Nice Clean Fight)" is a short and quick quirky that has jangly guitars and very flowing vocals; "Spit it back now/Into the out/We want a nice clean fight/No blood, nobody/Where the end is near/Let's just be frank/Just let it sit, be still/We'll meet in the middle come on." The next song brings out the highlight of the whole LP, the very lazy "Pleasure Sighs" continues to build throughout the song and creates a beautiful climax of perfect harmony.
The rest of the album just brings out the lazy dreaminess of "Pleasure Sighs" and expands onto more echoes ("Hand Me Downs"), rough ("All Day Day Long") and shoegazy ("Sleeping In"). It's a very fun listen and very relaxing if you're looking for a very lazy album with a bit of some excitement.
They're like a more atmospheric and clearer Grizzly Bear, a lot less baroque too. It's a lot more unique then their debut Talking Through a Tin Can. The album art work is probably the best of the year I've seen, a beautiful oil painted picture of a grim sea side, which is exactly what The Bender's sound is like; very drift-laden and relaxing with a taste of a coming storm.
Overall: 8.5/10
Track Listing:
1. Excuses - 8.5
2. Promises - 9.0 *
3. Wet Cement - 8.5
4. Cold War (Nice Clean Fight) - 9.0 *
5. Pleasure Sighs - 9.0 *
6. Hand Me Downs - 8.0
7. Mason Jars - 8.5 *
8. All Day Day Light - 8.5
9. Stitches - 8.0
10. Sleeping In - 8.5
* - Notable Track
Sample:
"Promises"
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