The Mumlers “Don’t Throw Me Away”
9/14
The Mumlers are the best band in America today. Okay, so that’s a little bit subjective, but with a single listen to their new album “Don’t Throw Me Away” released last Tuesday, it’s hard to say that they’re not one of the most original acts out there.
A lot of bands get billed as “hard to classify”–it’s like the de facto “these guys are geniuses” these days–but The Mumlers earn it. They’re a carefully cultivated blend of soulful Cali-country, borderline bawdy/burlesque dixieland horns and near perfect doo-wop harmonies. The band springs from the San Jose skate community and came up teen wolfing beers with the likes of Jerry Hsu. How that influences their music is up for debate, but there’s something in their freewheeling sound that says “I’m game to huck myself down a ten stair.”
The Mumlers claim that they are not a rock band and “Don’t Throw Me Away” is not really a rock album–at least not in the traditional sense. Their previous release, “Thickets and Stitches” employed tuba, french horns, clarinet and accordion to bounce around the beats but on this new album the brass steps up next to lead singer Will Sprott’s vocals. At times it’s croony, at times it’s an old-timey creep out–which is to say that it’s weird, but really good weird. We pretty much blew it getting this review up in a timely fashion because you used to be able to stream the entire album at spinner.com, but it seems to have come down. Seriously though, the it’s worth it to buy the album just for the artwork by Mitsy Avila Ovalles. (On another art related note, Jeff Canham just did this rad tee for the band, too.)
Look for the Mumlers on tour this fall with Galaxia Records label mates Black Heart Procession. They’re also playing a killer show Saturday, September 26th in Big Sur at the Henry Miller Library. The line up is amazing–Dodos, the Papercuts & the Ruby Suns (all the way from New Zealand). More info at http://www.henrymiller.org/events.html.
