Outside of Outer Space

THIS IS GREAT! From St. Paul, Minnesota, Chris Danforth writes psych indie pop songs with heavy synth orchestration very much like the Flaming Lips and often with the same adorable humor as the Magnetic Fields. At times, his voice even sounds like Wayne’s. Avoiding the indie-pop traps, however, many songs have unexpected changes, sometimes quickly going from a cool electronic texture to an upbeat indie bop. The pop parts fit nicely into the 60s nostalgia of Elephant 6 while the electronic parts are novel and well done. Play with the Swirlies! 1, 5, 7, 4, 6


1. sweet voice over toy-like melody, becomes big with synth sounds, then goes upbeat happy indie at the end
2. rain sample, cello, then bird sounds + sweet down home lo-fi guitar
3. catchy electronic beat over reverbed voice. simplified manitoba?
4. short groove, then atmospheric drone with chorus of voices
5. swirling synth sounds over sweet vocals, then upbeat and catchy
6. organ intro, then happy, then funny sad into a melancholic groove
7. midtempo throughout. flaming lips epic feel, but with more mystery
8. upbeat, silly synth melody. changes into nice percussive rhythm.
9. bowed cello, silly voice. then playful acoustic, voice, harmonica.
10. fuzzy synth bass with voice, then great epic breakdown at end