Laundromat

A project known for juxtaposing earnest lyrics and vocal performances with whimsically homespun indie pop accompaniment, Pickle Darlings second album, 2021s Cosmonaut, was a sci-fi-inspired endeavor featuring, at least for them, relatively more streamlined arrangements and production. It resulted in a surprise Top 40 appearance in their native New Zealand. Feeling the pressures of expectations and touring demands in the wake of that success, Pickle Darlings wizard behind the curtain, Lukas May, was compelled to do some soul searching; they were having trouble making and enjoying making music. In addition to finding a living situation conducive to working, they eventually re-sparked their joy by returning to the projects original inspirations -- the everyday -- and by adopting a habit of daily practice. With May still writing, recording, producing, and for the most part performing the material all on their own, their resulting Father/Daughter Records debut, Laundromat, also returns Pickle Darling to a familiar palette -- including on Cosmonaut -- of soft, playful melodic timbres in the family of melodica, glockenspiel, and banjo, as well as vocal processors and other effects, but with a looser, more collage-like approach. Wistful first track "Early Geometry" opens the 12-track, 24-minute album with what sounds like reversed-playback effects, sparsely finger-plucked banjo and guitar, and twinkling keys before May and a rare duet partner in Christiane Shortal join in in twee-like fashion, with lyrics about the faltering nature of memory and perception. May soon goes solo on the double-tracked "In Good Health," a jauntier but still yearning ditty that introduces vocal distortion in the pitched-up alien realm of Alex G. This effect is used more consistently on tracks like the plaintive and colorful "Choruses," which also combines strummed guitar and heavily plucked banjo. Drum loops and voicemails are also in play on Laundromat, including on the interlude-like "Computer Repair"; later on, "Kinds of Love" consists entirely of a pop-underscored interview with musician bedbug as they speak to the unpredictability of music connecting (or more specifically not connecting) with an audience. The sets longest track, the over-four-minute "Invercargill Angel," is still only somewhat song-like, with its repeated, harmonized mantra set amid shifting accompaniment that includes toy piano-like tones, recorded laughter, and a feedback drone. After the lyrically anxious "Scared" ("Ive lost my voice/I cant feel it in my throat"), the album closes on the melancholy "More Kinds of Love," a quasi-instrumental that provides a credit roll of sorts to Laundromats ultimately disarming combination of scattershot, cute, and sad. Its a surprisingly epic-feeling set despite its brief playing time. ~ Marcy Donelson