fruit Bats Mouthfuls (Sub Pop) Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
Fruit Bats main man Eric Johnson names the Velvet Underground and Neil Young as two of his biggest influences, and that’s a good starting point for explaining what this sounds like. Mouthfuls is a great summer afternoon album: sunny, folky, psychedelic country, oozing with layered voices and odd percussion. Johnson, whom some may know from Califone, and his partner, Gillian Lisee, are the core of the band, but dozens of musicians have been associated with the project over the years, giving it an indie back-porch jam kind of feel.
There’s a Fruit Bats in-store performance at Soundscapes tonight (Thursday, May 15) at 8 pm, followed by a headlining gig at B-side at 11:30 pm.