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Album reviews Music

We Barbarians – Headspace

WE BARBARIANS play the Drake September 3. See listing. Rating: NNN


When a band relocates to Brooklyn, it’s usually because they’re really trying to make it. It’s a much more crowded field there than in the band’s native Long Beach – you pretty much can’t swing an arm without hitting the latest chillwave, nu-gaze or witch-house band – but We Barbarians’ sweeping, widescreen rock is big enough to capture people’s attention.

Their sophomore EP is only five songs and under 20 minutes yet displays their knack for turning simple drum/bass/guitar arrangements into soaring anthems. Sung-to-the-rafters vocals and hooky, atmospheric guitar melodies increase the band’s reach and make it hard to believe they’re just a three-piece.

They break the instrumental mould by incorporating synths on the David Byrne/Brian Eno cover Strange Overtones, but the album never loses its carefully cultivated early-U2 monumentalism.

Top track: Strange Overtones

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