Considering their geographical origin and their more obvious influences, the comparisons between Atlanta group Carnivores and their scene predecessors Black Lips are inevitable. Like the Black Lips, this quartet plays lo-fi rock that's more than a little informed by psychedelia and garage.
Still, to call them Black Lips Lite would be unfair. While the Lips are unapologetically fuzzed-out, possibly drugged-out (they wrote a song called "Lean," after all), and loud at all times, Carnivores' sound is more tempered. There's less of a balls-to-the-wall punk rock energy here, and more of an infatuation with mid-'60s British invasion acts.
A song like "Georgia Power Company" could surely be the soundtrack to an acid test, but others, like the organ-driven "Dressed for the Rain," are close to dancefloor jams for the Quadrophenia crowd. Some of the best songs, though, feature classically trained keyboardist Caitlin Lang's vocals. "Salts to Mine" particularly charms with a seriously bittersweet girl-group wistfulness.
The band's gotten recent love from the BBC, the New York Times, and Pitchfork, so it may be wise to catch the band on its current, comprehensive Florida tour before it blows up. That includes a gig at Churchill's in Miami on Saturday night, but if you prefer to rock out in Palm Beach County, you can catch them at Respectable's on Thursday night and Dada on Friday.
Get a preview by streaming these six new tracks from the band.
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