Amazing Baby, 'Rewild'

Release date: June 23, 2009
Record label: Shangri-La
Official Web site: http://theamazingbaby.com/

The buzz: Like so many bands in the last decade, Brooklyn group Amazing Baby got their start online. Originally a two-piece, the duo posted a four-song EP on MySpace. When the label offers started coming in, they put together a live band of their buddies to take the show on the road, eventually growing into a five-piece for their current tour. “Rewild” is the full-band debut.

The verdict: “Rewild” has just about everything you'd expect from a young buzz band, in both the good and bad ways: it's imbued with boundless energy and enthusiasm, yet is unevenly paced and drastically eclectic—both the sign of a band that wears its influences on its sleeve, and one that hasn't quite yet figured out its identity. “Bayonets,” the opening track and first single, has the Britpop edge of early Blur, as does “Deerripper,” with its shaker beat and weavy guitars; the folky “The Narwhal” is as harmonic and weird as Fleet Foxes, and “Pump Yr Breaks” works on the rawness of its riff—you can tell someone's listened to the deep tracks of the Smashing Pumpkins' “Gish.” This is the kind of debut that leaves you wanting more...and wishing that they'd given it to you in the first place.

Did you know? Before the band took off, singer Will Roan and guitarist Simon O' Connor edited ringtones for Verizon.

Add a comment