Stream Laser Background’s new psych oddity Dark Nuclear Bogs
Ahead of April 28th, Philly artist Andy Molholt — better known these days as Laser Background — released an early stream of his new record Dark Nuclear Bogs, which is actually an anagram of his stage name (*’The More You Know’ star flies across the sky*). His follow-up to 2016’s Correct sees Molholt’s building confidence warping pop to an almost uncomfortable level, bringing expansive production and saccharine melodies to the world of modern psychedelia.
Molholt’s newest effort coats the pill of his lo-fi weirdness with a little more digestive sugar, effectively creating the damaged bridge between indie and psychedelic kids. Replacing Correct‘s slightly-camouflaged guitar work with an emphasis on chiming synths and anxious blown-out drums (most notably on opener “Mostly Water” and “Drink the Dirt”), Molholt moves into full-out millennial bedroom territory, singing modern city woes with the downloaded samples at our disposal. Although tracks like “Francine” and “Tiny Jumpers” rip out the ax for some laid-back and shredding licks (respectively), most tracks jump around his reinventive hooks with help from Molholt’s signature unsettling vocals.
The wonderful thing about LB’s sound comes from the variety within, finding tracks like “Half-Life” managing to inject oddity into simple guitar-driven folk songs next to the Rock and Roll Night Club-sounding “Bright Field”. While anyone less than familiar with the exhaustible diversity of music may at first find Dark Nuclear Bogs another drugged-out insanity, I propose that Laser Background is on to something. Doing your own thing takes major guts, and from what I’ve heard, there is seriously nothing like what Mr. Molholt is producing out there.
Listen to the record, and check out Laser Background’s Baird Mansion Atrium gig on April 29th; tickets / more information can be found here.