Black Moth Super Rainbow performs a difficult feat with Eating Us. The group is able to maintain the distinct, calculated sound that makes them easily recognizable, while branching out to create a remarkably different album. The massive arsenal of antique analog equipment that defined BMSR’s first three albums remains intact — vocoder-saturated vocals of Tobacco, thick and swirling novatrons and mellotrons that cultivated a general feeling of sunshine, and old 8mm films about nature, etc.
However, Eating Us showcases a more organic band, incorporating more acoustic instrumentation and mellow moods without disregarding the group’s traditional, glitchy, Technicolor timbre. The syrupy strings that producer Dave Fridmann fine-tuned on The Flaming Lips’ latter output make their way onto floral pop gems “Fields are Breathing” and the cinematic “Gold Splatter.” The expansive “Smile the Day After Today” sounds like what Boards of Canada should’ve followed up Geogaddi with, but failed to.
In short, Eating Us is a gorgeous, cohesive, enthralling, brain-melting psychedelic package — a record of remarkable imagination and accessibility that will unequivocally enjoy a very high place on my best of ’09 list.
This article appears in July 7, 2009.