Many Birthdays

Self-released

Available now

To those still salivating for more Far East-wrapped underground rock, even after Asobi Seksu’s Citrus (2006), Many Birthdays is here for you. Like New York’s Asobi Seksu, Many Birthdays wrap Asian vocals around some serious rock, but the relation isn’t quite so direct. Where Asobi Seksu pours swirling shoegaze guitars and post-rock instrumentals into their music, Many Birthdays relies on underground noise rock in the same vein as Sonic Youth, or perhaps even Vivian Girls.

Hardly anything swirls out of control in the Austin act’s EP Emptiness Is Forever. Quite the contrary – melodies and grooves are kept on the low-down, establishing a calm cool that hangs like smoke over the entire release. With vixen, sometimes-foreign vocals thrown over the top, Many Birthdays’ grooves stay low and steady. Here and there a synthesizer (such as that in “Good Luck”, in which it emulates Pink Floyd) may rise above to grab the spotlight, or the instrumentals may climax to a rousing finish.  But the majority of Emptiness Is Forever is spent groovin’ away in a subtle and ultra-cool fashion.

It’s the same sort of “Kool” factor found ever-present in Sonic Youth cuts. The comparison is pushed further in “Tsugi ni Kuro Koto”, where alternating male/female vocals mimic exchanges between Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon – but the cutesy Japanese of Many Birthdays’ Sarah Luce couldn’t be more opposite from the sexy growl of Gordon. Closer to Moore is John Dixon, who adopts his laid-back delivery, especially in the brilliantly driving “Rock It.”

Many Birthdays simply ooze super-cool with simple, driving beats that creep into your mind with seemingly little effort. They take the formula Asobi Seksu used to their advantage and add in some noise rock cool. The sum is nothing less than, well, awesome.

– Michael Schmitt