Illustrated Garden, The

Radar Brothers / The Illustrated Garden -- reviewed by Mason
Layered, carefully produced and arranged indie-pop/rock. Laid-back, slightly melancholic, rainy-day feel, sometimes a little folky when it's not layering on the instruments and vocals. Reminds me of Modest Mouse but more laid-back; also several tracks have a Neu/Stereolab motorik sound. Try 1, then 3 or 6.
FCC on track 4.
1. ** Slow, head-nodding tempo; big chorus with nice guitar counterpoint; nicely arranged chords. 2. Faster; breezy, car-driving feel. Stereolab-ish, including da-da-da backup vocals. 3. * Folkier with acoustic guitar prominent on verses; bigger chorus. Nifty synth horn/whistling instrumental break. 4. FCC: "Fucking" 5. Layered vocals, more folky feel with fast triplet beat and harmony vocals. 6. * Spacious, ringing sound at the beginning, slowly mounting to expansive climax. 7. Elegaic feel, slower, electric guitar strumming base, climax with horns and rapid vocals which sounds ridiculous to me. 8. More rainy-day-ness. Stripped down verses with bass and drums. Droning early-Stereolab bridge. 9. Stripped-down with voice & acoustic guitar & funny processed organ, with some clever lead- and backing-vocal back-and-forth. 10. More motorik rhythms. Alternates tightly wound verses with expansive choruses.