Spectreview: Crumb – Jinx

-LIGHT CORAL-

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“Words aren’t easy, they’ll come and they’ll go
Feelings alike, but they’ll never show
All of my heroes are people I know
Never see faces that look like my own”

Listening to any semblance of rock music in 2019 can easily spiral into a game of “spot the influences.” In Jinx, the newest LP from Brooklyn psych-pop band Crumb, there’s the “lo-fi by hi-fi means” of Kevin Parker’s numerous psychedelia projects (most apparent on the jazzy, hooky “Nina” and the coolheaded strut of “Part III“), the whammied chill of Mac Demarco, the feather-light coziness of Twin Sister (before the Mr) and the subtly unsettling edge of post-breakthrough Broadcast (“M.R.”), among others. But all art is synthesis, and Crumb successfully synthesize all these disparate sounds into a cohesive, extremely accessible package that seems to guarantee them a spot in the upper echelons in today’s left-of-the-dial rock music. That the record is so unchallenging allows vocalist Lila Ramani, whose voice recalls the trendy, dynamic breathiness of Billie Eilish, to slip in modern anxieties about city life and coping with depression without causing too much of a stir. It’s as if the album is an aural equivalent of addressing those problems in the midst of a hazy head high, and while that can occasionally bring on narcolepsy, the ride is enjoyable all the way through.

Recommended in preparation for a bong rip.