Glass Animals – Zaba

If there is one thing for sure, it’s that super-producer Paul Epsworth has a cracking eye for talent, first helping to launch Bloc Party, Adele and Florence + The Machine and now his newly founded record label Wolf Tone have launched the debut album of Oxford foursome Glass Animals, with only listen to Zaba, it’s clear to see that they are on the right track towards fame and fortune.

Bursting onto the scene with a truly unique collection of songs, Glass Animals have a sound which I find rather refreshing, packed with heavy doses of psychedelia mixed in with synth-rock and undertones of majestic soul, all of which is topped off by some pretty complex and intellectually stimulating lyricism, this is an album that you definitely have to be in the mood for, but when you are, you can’t help but fall in love with.

Like most of the music being produced today, the 90’s influences are obvious, with ‘JDNT’ sounding like it could have quite easily come from a clash between Radiohead and Massive Attack, while ‘Pools’ is a pop song in a post Clean Bandit world, mixing electro, pop, R&B and classical together to make a beautiful hybrid of the four, thus demonstrating just how varied an album Zaba really is and also that ‘Gooey’, a song which has been doing the rounds in indie venues and 6music playlists since February, wasn’t a fluke, but in-fact a sign of things to come.

Layers after layers of watery vocals and exotic sounds that come together to take you on an interesting journey through atmospheric dreamscapes and R&B grooves, switching from laid back to complicated in the drop of a hat, with frontman Bayley’s background in neuroscience filtering through in some of the more intricate compositions to give the electronic sound a more human feel.

Glass Animals are creating enough buzz to produce a hive,what they have produced with their debut album really is one of the most surprising and interesting collection of songs so far this year, so if I were you, I’d fully expect to see their names being placed much higher on festival posters throughout next summer, so why not get in quick and check them out sooner rather than later, with chances to see Glass Animals at both Bestival and Electric Picnic this September and a UK tour planned for October.

Best Song: Black Mambo

If You Like: Alt-J, Massive Attack, Jungle, SOHN, Alice Wonderland

Listen To When: Your sick of mindless pop

–Live–

29.08.14 – Dimensions Festival, Pula, Croatia

31.08.14 – Electric Picnic Festival, County Laois, Ireland

04.09.14 – Bestival, Isle of Wight, UK

10.10.14 – Magnet, Liverpool

11.10.14 – Sound Control, Manchester

13.10.14 – The Haunt, Brighton

14.10.14 – Oval Space, London

15.10.14 – Thekla, Bristol

16.10.14 – The Plug, Sheffield

17.10.14 – CCA, Glasgow

18.10.14 – Whelan’s, Dublin, Ireland

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