Rarely do I like to refer to a band’s self-referential promo for a new album, because in most cases, it won’t tell you anything about what you will get out of listening to it. This is definitely not the case for the Portland sextet And And And, who dubbed Life Ruiner as a “concept album” covering all the major topics of dairy products, fiddles, being like totally-super-stoked about being in a band, America, alcoholism and out of body experiences, all of which they promise will eventually converge into a singular concept (“NOT.”) Ladies, did I forget to mention that 2/3 of And And And is suffering from involuntary celibacy, and at least one of them is about to get his own place very soon?
Basically, the underlying concept of Life Ruiner is what I like to call kidulthood, especially that of this generation, when being in your mid-to-late twenties means enduring another day living at your parents’ place because even Portland’s low-cost living won’t accommodate an artist’s rent. Nathan Baumgartner has all of us kidults down when he yells, “I hate this town / I’ve just been fucking around. / I want more alcohol!”
Of course, you’ll be lucky if you can make out much of the lyrics from this lo-fi garage-produced jam, but that’s exactly why we love them, right? We love those moments when it sounds like they’re playing in the room down the hall, and what you’re hearing is actually the sound of distant music through plaster, or maybe the meddled buzz of an old radio tuner. And then there are those moments of pure clarity, when you swear you’re standing 5 feet in front of them hollering and dancing at the Mississippi Studios. Maintaining that fantastic balance of high-low styles whilst orchestrating a sextet could be incredibly difficult, but these guys do it well and they make it fun. In fact, it’s pretty obvious that they all are having a good time, in spite of their suffering with kidulthood and involuntary celibacy.
By the by, Life Ruiner releases via Apes Tapes on April 1, so grab yourself a cassette at Mississippi Studios tonight (which also comes along with a free MP3 download, for all you tape-playerless folks)! – April Ehrlich