Silk Flowers

On the surface, artificial flora and bizarro electronic pop that sounds like it was recorded in a cave or a mad scientist's lab don't seem to have much in common, but Silk Flowers is an apt name for this New York-based trio -- their sound is unrepentantly synthetic, pretty at times, and also a bit morbid. The band's self-titled debut doesn't sound much like the other projects of anyone involved with it. Singer/multi-instrumentalist Aviram Cohen and keyboardist Peter Schuette come from jazzy indie rockers Soiled Mattress & the Springs, and while Ethan Swan's Car Clutch is similarly strange and electronic, Silk Flowers is more focused and more mischievous. At different points on the album, the band's dark-yet-naïve sound nods to Kraftwerk, Suicide, John Carpenter's film scores, and library music, but that pedigree doesn't let on how much fun this music is. Silk Flowers are as dark as any goth's tears, but they're laughing on the inside, and the way they switch from spooky to witty and back again makes this album hard to shake.