Fancy Dress Party-Letting Things Go LP (2012)

I started working at a record store when I was 17. Mebbe the 2nd-3rd week there, one of my co-workers did me the foolish courtesy of giving me the store copy of the third Pedro the Lion LP, Control. A courtesy, 'cause he was doing himself and the customers a favor since I was probably playing something equally awful, like Filth, at the store that day; foolish, 'cause that was all I played during shifts for the next six months or so. I think he actually gave me the store copy 'cause he wasn't allowed to play it himself, by general consensus of everyone else concerned. It definitely spoke to my narcissistic 17-y.o. self, who was undoubtedly crushin' hard on some uninterested girl at the time. I dunnowhateverit's been awhile.

Oh, uh, Fancy Dress Party. Yeah. They don't have much to do with Pedro the Lion, except the mainline of each band's sound is more or less similar: clean, undistorted guitar and snappy, crisp drumwork that frames the vocals. The vocals are kinda mopey, which I should condemn but actually, as anyone who's read a few entries here knows, I love mopiness. "Mind is Gone" almost gets into Monkees territory: cutesy harmonies and jangly melodies (or vice versa? I dunno I'm tone deaf). "Under Ground," which delves into psychrock territory, features Zsofia from Piresian Beach on backing vocals-it's probably the least straightforward song here.

To summarize, I probably should dislike Fancy Dress Party but I actually think this album's pretty damn good. In fact, people who dig Pedro the Lion will prolly dig this (no offense intended to those behind Fancy Dress Party!). Find out for yrself, dear reader.