{"product_id":"icky-blossoms","title":"Icky Blossoms","description":"Omaha, Nebraska indie label Saddle Creek built its reputation in the early '90s on the melancholy songcraft of Bright Eyes and angular post-rock of Cursive, soon expanding its sound with the addition of the new wave-inspired, sexually charged the Faint (and spinoff project Broken Spindles) to its roster, a theme revisited by Icky Blossoms. On the trio's self-titled debut produced by Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio), singer\/synth player Sarah Boling and singer\/multi-instrumentalists Derek Pressnall (Flowers Forever and labelmates Tilly and the Wall) and Nik Fackler share their take on electro-influenced music, delivering a combination of brooding synthesizers, danceable drums, and self-assured melodies to shape their dance-pop sound. While the Faint zoned in on dark rhythms and decadent lyrics, Icky Blossoms take a looser approach, flowing from stripped-down, arpeggiated synth rock (opener \"Heat Lightning\") to hypnotic, jagged beats (\"Burn Rubber\") to slow-burning indie rock sprinkled with icy electronic accents (\"Stark Weather,\" loosely inspired by the Nebraskan teenager serial killer Charles Starkweather). The band conjures a sensuous dance party on \"Sex to the Devil,\" whose ominous synth lines combine with the chorus (\"Church to god\/God to the universe\/The universe to art\/Art to drugs\/Drugs to sex\/Sex to the devil\") for mantra-like results. Meanwhile, \"Babes,\" with its house-infused beats and lyrics that laud leather-clad ladies and cool club chicks, has the ingredients to accompany a runway show. But the band may have saved the best for last with closer \"Perfect Vision,\" a murky snapshot of friends spending a boring, cloudy afternoon together that dreamily oozes to the six-and-a-half-minute mark with a soundtrack of droning guitar, shadowy co-ed vocals, and distorted trumpets. Icky Blossoms succeed in showing many different sides of dance-infused indie rock with their debut, but there's an unsettled feeling that suggests the trio members weren't entirely sure where they wanted to go with the record. With a more clearly defined musical direction, like the Faint before them, they'd sound more fully committed. ~ Chrysta Cherrie","brand":"InnerSleeve","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42191107752101,"sku":"648401017212","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/6007\/1077\/files\/003f775cf024a8b3f8413883fff45d80.jpg?v=1777764505","url":"https:\/\/www.innersleeve.com\/en-au\/products\/icky-blossoms","provider":"InnerSleeve","version":"1.0","type":"link"}