TOTAL MOM – Brain Tiny CS

Total Mom’s Brain Tiny is another high-strung thesis paper on teen pedal aesthetics from good ole Providence USA. If you didn’t get a chance to catch one of his scorching live sets up and down the East Coast corridor in the past year, good news: the home edition is here.

“Old People Frighten Me” opens with a plaintive organ melody before devolving into a din tornado certain to drive a few corncobs through your barndoor. Track-title-of-the-year nominee “Violent Friends” claws the walls like a panicked grizzly seeking the fire exit, and the long-form screech calisthenics of “I Love My Dog” will give your jaded & atrophied inner ear muscles a much-needed workout.

But Brain Tiny is more than just more of the same, as evidenced by the new avenues of exploration on display. “The Future is Real” is full frontal drone beckoning for you to stare and/or disappear into its maw, while ambient album closer “Sammy” comes out of left field, both for the album and the artist. Diaphanous wafts of buzzing drizzle drift in dreamy waves before cocooning you tightly for later consumption (and, by the way, if you ever run into Total Mom, ask him who “Sammy” is).

Anyway, it looks snazzy and sounds real good when you’re driving fast through a blizzard on the highway. Maybe it’s time to dust off that deck and head north, partner.

Edition of 100