There's a lot of make believe that can go into starting a band. If you've ever fantasized about starting your own, you probably spent some time dreaming up genre concepts and brainstorming cool names. A new wave band, a Hindi-pop act, a desert psych group, complete with own logos, all crudely scrawled across your high school assignment book. Sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson-- anchors of the new-age revival project Prince Rama-- are no strangers to mixing make believe and music. From their background as Hare Krishnas to far-out live shows that often verge on performance art to conducting "group exorcisms disguised as VHS workouts," the spectacle is just as important as what makes it onto Prince Rama's records. Their latest, Top 10 Hits of the End of the World, takes that principle to a new extreme: It's a concept album in which the Brooklyn group "invented 10 different pop bands that died during the apocalypse, channeling the ghosts of each one to perform the various songs." This premise includes a new wave band, a Hindi-pop act, and a desert psych group, all complete with fictional bios and names like the Metaphysixxx, Nu Fighters, and I.M.M.O.R.T.A.L.I.F.E.
Now, making this kind of concept work would be difficult for even the most capable artists, let alone Prince Rama, whose previous two albums on Animal Collective's label Paw Tracks (Shadow Temple and Trust Now) were spotty at best. But miraculously, Prince Rama have curated an enjoyable pop experience that both works independently of its concept and pays greater dividends the more you play along. Still reluctant to completely disavow their roots-- layers of summersaulting drums, new-age synths, and melodies steeped in Eastern musics all remain-- Prince Rama have placed the importance of movement, hooks, and accessibility above all else. Take the excellent "No Way Back" (an interpretation of the single by the imaginary motorcycle band/ murderous graverobbers Nu Fighters), which takes the pair's mythic, seance-y vibes and refracts them through the mirroball, complete with acid-washed guitar squeals and a strangely sinister, wind-in-your-face feeling of freedom. Whether it's the ABBA worship of "We Will Fallin Love Again" or the wink to New Order on the clubby, pulsating "Those Who Live For Love Will Live Forever", the nods are often subtle, but still clever enough to make you reconsider Prince Rama's potential altogether.
The lack of humor and self-awareness in Prince Rama's music has always been a stumbling block, and part of what sets End of the World apart is how quickly it offers itself to parody while mostly avoiding complete self-sabotage. From the absurd, phony band press shots to the those backstories (the blurbs regarding the Metaphysixxx and I.M.M.O.R.T.A.L.I.F.E. are wonderfully stupid), the Larsons seem in on a joke that was frequently pointed only at them, and the reversal is endearing. The newfound carefree attitude suits nicely: While the oddly "Creep"-ish, frat boy dub of "Welcome to the Now Age" or the Ariel Pink Goes Bollywood feel of "Radhamadhava" might not make for a great songs, they don't make for boring ones, either.
End of the World still isn't quite as fun as it could be, as the Larson sisters slip back into old habits on a string of tracks that are too reminiscent of last year's Trust Now. They're not totally disposable and actually make for above-average Prince Rama songs, but often don't embrace the potential of the genre-bending fun that's in front of them. Not to mention that pretty much every track on the record could've greatly benefitted from a high-definition mix instead of the slightly muffled one they've ended up going with here. Still, you have to hand it to Prince Rama, who've taken a potentially disastrous conceit and made it work within the context of their music an their personality. It's a testament to the fact that sometimes fictional bands are a lot better than some of the real ones we have, and for an act like Prince Rama-- whose own skewed sense of reality was once a deterrent-- it's an idea that's realized on End of the World in the form of a compliment.
