Without a hint of wearing my Big Stir hat, The Armoires have been compared to The Special Pillow. I can see the similarity, male and female vocalists, violin and Katie Gentile and Christina Bulbenko's vocals are not a million miles away from each other. But that is where the similarity ends.
The Special Pillow reside in a magnificent cocoon of their own. The Hoboken quartet sound as though they have been time warped from the 60s into the present day and are a bit bemused about it all. The wit in the lyrics reveals a bemusement with what's going on, but who cares?
Essentially, the band master a sort of Psych Pop that encompasses, Pop, Beat and Folk. Yet on a song like Mind Wipe they almost become the B52s. That is their charm and the violin, viola and sax that jumps in only enhances their capabilities.
Access Denied is a song about proving you are not a robot when you try to log in somewhere. But it is sung to an accompanying haunting string arrangement and a Brass addition that makes it swing. All this in what is essentially Beat Pop joy.
Then there's Organic Panic which could be from a 60s film soundtrack with instruments coming from everywhere, one by one they are added as though someone has found something else in the music cupboard. It ends as a sort of space theme. All bizarre, but delightfully so.
Another Tragic Chorus is a real moody venture in Psych, atmospheric to the point of scariness. The centrepiece though, in more ways than one, is the wonderful So Inclined. A 7 minute affair that you night normally see closing an album or even opening one.
But oh no, it is right here in the middle and it is amazing, moody and magnificent. The central instrumental theme is just haunting. Sung beautifully by Gentile who also adds strings that are mindblowing. You just allow the last three minutes to wash over you and clear your mind.
You can listen to and buy the album here.
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