Super Natural
Big And Just Little, 2022
9/10
The 5th album from King Ropes, Super Natural widens the scope of the band’s desert rock template into louder areas while still finding a stirring place to reside, thanks to frontman Dave Hollier’s well thought out songwriting that touches on tragedy and pain in conversational, sometimes humorous ways.
“Greedy” starts the listen with Hollier’s distinct vocals alongside Ben Roth’s bouncy bass and Jeff Jensen’s crisp drumming in the laid back garage rock meets Americana vibe, and “Breathing” follows with a bit of a darker spirit where subtle twang and groove makes for a very charming album highlight.
In the middle, the more firm “Pockets” emits a thicker presence of psychedelic nods that unfolds almost in a campfire-esque sort of way, while “Drunk Donny” lands in stoner-rock territory with its dense guitar, booming drums and well timed cello thanks to Sam Hollier.
Approaching the end, “Real Live Tiger” benefits from a low droning, noisy background where a dreamy, nearly sci-fi quality enters, and “Mystery” exits the listen and is indeed mysterious, and starts out calm and intimate before building into an atypical melody and lo-fi chatter.
You might hear influences like Built to Spill, Wilco, King Gizzard or Modest Mouse across the affair, which could never be a bad thing, and the band’s organic, distorted and very unique version of indie-rock makes every tune here worth many listens.
Travels well with: Neighbor Lady- Maybe Later; Riley Downing- Start It Over