Artsy, reverb-damaged experimental poppers with negligible lyrics aren't exactly rare these days. Whether chillwave or lo-fi, post-dubstep or just plain unclassifiable, many of our decade's most intriguing young voices are often less than wholly articulate. Even when you can make out the lyrics, as Pitchfork's Brian Howe observed recently, they're often cryptic or generic-- both in big-tent indie rock and on the U.S. pop charts.
Take Gauntlet Hair. They're not even alone in their own adopted Mile High City. Denver's nonprofit D.I.Y. art space Rhinoceropolis has also midwifed instrumental electro-rockers Tjutjuna, formerly instrumental electro-rockers Woodsman, and punk-scorched electro-house producer Pictureplane. But the duo of Andy R. (né Andy Rauworth) and drummer Craig Nice (né Craig Fleischman) don't only hang out in the world of "avant" prefixes. Their stirring 2010 single, "I Was Thinking...", aired during an ESPN special on quarterback Tim Tebow. And Craig, who also uses electronic drum triggers, has cited Beyoncé as an influence on his beats.
Gauntlet Hair's self-titled debut is the most compelling demonstration yet of the band's knack for headphones-friendly fist-pumpers. Andy and Craig say they've been playing together since they were 15-- almost a decade ago-- and their songs are stacked with enough ideas to back that up. Andy, who lists the Durutti Column's impeccably fluid guitarist Vini Reilly as an inspiration, uses lots of delay, chorus, and echo effects on his springy guitar licks, giving them a refracted, percussive quality while also making them sound larger than life. When Craig drops those Timbaland-style beats next to his cymbal crashes, you almost wonder whether these guys pal around with Colorado's own, chart-topping OneRepublic.
But then you remember Gauntlet Hair are originally from Illinois, where they recorded this album-- at Andy's grandmother's house. Andy and Craig trade off vocals, which evokes comparisons to likeminded duos: the more cerebral No Age, the more visceral Japandroids. Except Gauntlet Hair sing in half-decipherable yawps, lofted, in celebration or in heartache, over neatly constructed, shape-shifting songs-- when words fail, the feelings still resonate. The longest track here, "Lights Out", plays like a fun-house guitar version of a hugely dramatic Tears for Fears song for three minutes, then swerves into a massive two-minute outro, adding and subtracting just enough catchy bits to maintain the emotional affect.
No, "I Was Thinking..." isn't here, and second A-side "Out, Don't..." isn't, either. As a result, yes, Gauntlet Hair lasts only nine songs. But they're all potential singles in their own right, all different: the romantic smolder of "Showing", the jittery throb of "Mop It Up" (the one that goes, "You say goodbye"), the sparkly shuffle of "Overkill" (something about "praying" and a "vision"). On closing track "Shout in Tongues", the drums drop out to expose a repeated shout that brings to mind the most famous song by the godfathers of the current decade's artsy, reverb-damaged experimental poppers, Animal Collective. "I want a child that breaks the rules, goes to school, and"-- I'm not sure what comes next. Adobe slats? Better listen again.
