Surfing

iTunes Review

With an indie-darling cast comprising freak-folk luminary Devendra Banhart, multi-instrumentalist Greg Rogove of the band Priestbird, Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, actor Aziz Ansari, and producer Noah Georgeson, anyone could have guessed that Megapuss' debut on Neil Young's Vapor Records would be an eccentric rock 'n' roll affair. Surprisingly, Surfing is made up of songs that experiment with banging and clanging junkyard Tropicália ("To The Love Within"), loungy folk rock ("Crop Circle Jerk '94"), and post art-school musings with lyrics that lean on psychedelic inside jokes ("Duck People Duck Man"). Even more heady sounding songs like the angularly arranged "Adam & Steve" fall back on Banhart and Rogove's penchant for witty puns, ironic wordplay and sexual ambiguity. The breezy title track is a shambolic collage of piano, vintage instruments, rummy chanting and spoken word bits that all intersect to sound like the Fuggs reunited to write songs for Animal Collective. "Lavender Blimp" is the sole vestige of Cripple Crow-era Banhart, but at only one minute and 16 seconds, it leaves the listener wanting more. "Chicken Titz" waltzes like "Time Is On My Side" by The Rolling Stones, but with lyrics that are even too weird for circa-‘60s Mick Jagger.