Barbara [Red Marble]

Description

Brooklyns Barrie Lindsay makes lush, dance-inflected indie pop whose unorthodox influences and imaginative twists shine brighter than the lyrics.

Barrie Lindsay is a consummate producer in search of an ideological north star. In sound, the Boston-born, Brooklyn-based musicians self-produced and self-recorded second album, Barbara, is lush and refreshingly unorthodox: harp and horn parts mingle with breakbeats, baroque synthwork, hazy vocal fragments, and warped, Alex G-style guitarwork.

In a sea of avowedly traditionalist indie rock and barely veiled emo revival, its a refreshing palette cleanser. But as a whole, the record can feel vexingly incomplete, like a sumptuous oil painting whose foreground has been hastily sketched in. Lindsays sweet-but-vague lyricism rarely feels fueled by the same gonzo instinct that guides her deft production.

Pitchfork
Barrie – Barbare Review