Artist: Brown Recluse
Album: Evening Tapestry

If you like classic, 60s-influenced baroque pop compositions, straightforward time signatures, organs, tambourines, and a forced, poppy aesthetic, you probably won’t like Brown Recluse. The band’s first LP, Evening Tapestry, meets that description entirely, but it’s just… awful. Belle and Sebastian accomplished this very delicate style over a decade ago, and while it worked for them, it hasn’t worked for any similar artist since. It’s almost like Brown Recluse looked at a 90s indie music handbook and went down the list: reverb – check, sleepy baritone vocals – check, boring instrumentation (oh, but look, it’s a glockenspiel! Or something! We found it on our keyboard!) – check, generic chord progressions played over annoyingly peppy beats – check. To be fair, there’s no denying that the group is a talented bunch, but the music they create is so damn boring. Nay, it’s downright annoying. (Slumberland)