A Sucker For You

Being placed in the same league as Animal Collective and Menomena must be difficult to say the least. Being from New York adds extra weight on a band’s shoulders (there’s something in the water there, right?). You are expected to sonically challenge the music scene, shock us all with some great ideas, be cooler than you’ll ever be. These sort of things. Luckily, Suckers seem to shrug off these ‘qualities’ with much ease: their debut EP was wonderfully effortless and an instant delight. Still ignoring the tags, Suckers return with a new studio effort that is as sonically wonderful as their previous material.

Wild Smile, and or maybe despite its baffling strange cover, proves to be a wonder of an album. It flows perfectly and its mood shifts rather tickle the ear than surprise it or pull it out of the reverie. They know how to hit the right notes, when to hit the right notes and create odd high school prom musical numbers. Save Your Love For Me could go down as one of the cheesiest songs ever written, with its wailing falsettos, The Ronettes-like drums and building tension.

Balladesque as it is, the album opener is swiftly followed by the disco-infused Black Sheep with its paranoid drums and bubbling synths. A song that somehow draws upon early Modest Mouse to sound incredibly fresh. Before Your Birthday Ends is nothing short of a mind blower. Still abusing 80s metal vocals, Suckers know how to make the quirkiest of things sound perfectly normal. You Can Keep Me Runnin’ Around takes bits of afro-pop guitars and throws them next pounding drums. A Mind I Knew sets off as a slow piece but goes straight into TV On The Radio world with howling vocals and an instrumental that becomes more intricate as each second passes, while Roman Candles seems like a far more paranoid Wolf Parade.

The second half of Wild Smile is by no means a let down. The only song off their debut EP to make on the album, It Gets Your Body Moving, slows things down a notch with its soaring trumpets, group vocals and sweeping guitars. As perfect for that add prom as you’d expected it. Martha’s heavy reverbs, clicking drums and strange sun-soaked sexuality drip into the speakers. King Of Snakes is heart-breaking and endearing with its almost No More I Love Yous backing vocals and Quinn Walker’s soaring voice and soulful 2 Eyes 2 C sees even more falsettos. Closer Loose Change announces the end of prom night with its piano and sneering drums, only to break into funk-infused beats and pub-like group singalong.

Like MGMT’s Congratulations ending track, it also has applauses but Suckers keep on playing the guitars a bit more until they fade away. A fun jam that makes the listener realise Suckers are truly four creative New Yorkers with a heavy doze of drama in their blood. The right kind of drama, not to mention the perfect amount of drama, for a borderline perfect album. An album that makes us suckers for these four.

*photo courtesy of Suckers’ Myspace