Gardens may look like a bunch of nerdy hipster indie kids with bad hair, bad shirts, bad specs and shades and... ok, geek-chic fashion disasters in short (and what the fuck is that picture of the three of them peering through a pair of conifers on the inlay all about? Surely the worst literal interpretation of a band's name I've seen all year), but on this, their eponymous debut, they deliver a solid set of high-octane garage that's unexpectedly good.
Gardens hail from Detroit, and sound like it too as they motor their way through the ten tracks here. It's a fast, rough 'n' ready trebly racket, with the sneery vocals – half Iggy Pop, half Mark E Smith – swimming in reverb as the guitars crackle and fizz from the speakers and the drums rattle away in the background, struggling to keep up both with the tempo and the volume.
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It's a vintage sound – listening to this makes me want to dig out my Pebbles compilations – but whereas so many contemporary bands trying to recapture that 60's vibe sound forced, Gardens are truly in the spirit of it all; wonky, exuberant and above all, varied. No two songs sound alike, with changes of pace and style aplenty. There's a real sense that Gardens are striving to push their own musical limits and are doing it for the enjoyment of making music, regardless of retro / revisionary trends.
Jut goes to prove that looks can be deceptive.
Gardens on MySpace
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