The Houston-based Indian Jewelry are heavily reliant on drone, industrial noise, and tribal thrums. So far, most of their recorded energy has been focused on keeping things off-center, psych-driven, and plenty heady. So it was surprising to hear "Oceans", the first track off their latest full-length Totaled, get a lift from an ample dose of groove. The song hinted that, instead of another hour of deranged séances, we might be in store for an hour of deranged séances with song-oriented post-punk interpretations thrown in. And it's partly true true: Indian Jewelry have updated their patented weirdness to embrace a more approachable look, one that even borders on catchy.
Totaled, much as its title suggests, works best when the band takes abstracted elements from other genres, burn them to the ground, and try to summon something from the ashes. The genre destruction is a neat technique that marks most of the album's first half, though usually expressed in subtle ways. Early tracks "Look Alive" and "Lapis Lazuli" contain the same draggy, drugged-out elements that popped up on the band's previous LP Free Gold! and reinforce the sound with bleak doses of darkwave and an obvious appreciation for Bauhaus. But the tracks that wade into new territory are the ones that work the best. "Excessive Moonlight" has an uncomfortably dark R&B feel, "Tono Bungay" is a dry psych slow-burner, and "Vison" boasts new wavey synths. Here Indian Jewelry draw energy from song forms instead of simply reveling in their strangeness for the sake of the freak-out.
But Totaled's second act negates the progress made on the material that precedes it. Though they have a way with haunting soundscapes and spiky textures, the heavily processed drone and wandering noise cycles become tedious, rendered even flatter with the same collapsed, burnt-out vocal intonations, as the tracks just sit there, woefully light on contrast. The back half feels short on ideas and long on time, even if it's easy enough to get lost in gauzy layers. On the whole, though, Totaled's pace and moods even out well enough, even if a full-blown left turn from the band's familiar sound would have really hit the spot.
