The Molochs
America's Velvet Glory

THE REVIEW

Two similar nerd faces haven't been on the cover of an album since the times of «Crazy Rhythms» by the Feelies.

The faces belong to Lucas Fitzsimons and Ryan Foster, known as The Molochs, from Los Angeles.

They needed to update their Facebook profile, so they asked someone — not quite sure who — to take some photos: they chose the best one as the front cover of their second album, while the slightly worse ones ended up on the back and on the Facebook page.

The album is titled «America’s Velvet Glory» and was released in January 2017, following a debut dated 2013, «Forgetter Blues», which went completely unnoticed.

It would be a great pity if this one were to meet the same fate, because while the faces may well be those of incurable nerds — geeks who have no clue with the girls — the music that comes out of the grooves is well worth it.

Derivative music 100%, it's worth stating from the start to save precious time for those looking for the next big thing, hype, coolness, and such amenities: the coolest thing you'll find around here is the sepia-toned video of «You and Me», if only for the delightful protagonist — it's impossible not to fall in love with her and wish to be the lucky one holding the Super 8.

Then, that song smells of young Rolling Stones trying their hand at early beat sounds, just like «No More Cryin’», which appears right before in the tracklist, but also the more lively episodes — the opening «Ten Thousand» and «No Control», and in some ways, «The One I Love».

The rest swings between a bit of psychedelic folk — «Charlie’s Lips», «That’s the Trouble with You» and «Little Stars» — and a bit of rock — «New York» — somewhere between the Byrds and the Modern Lovers, all always enhanced with a gentle garage touch, coming from sidereal distances compared to brutal genre stereotypes.

11 tracks for half an hour of music, all so linear and predictable that this might indeed turn out to be one of the albums of the year, for those who just couldn't stomach the modern twist of Allah-Las' «Calico Review».