Pages is the first LP by Brooklyn-based indie pop band These Animals. This album can most closely be likened to when the artists tried to collect a whole bunch of emotions in a pile and sort through them using music, and the end result is a piece that hops between crippling depression and somewhat hopeful optimism.
The record has a very dreamy, spaced-out sound, due in part to the buzzing, shoegazey guitar work and the soft quality of lead vocalist Greg Baldwin’s voice. The opening track is “I Wrote The Book,” which, at only three and a half seconds in, opens with the lyric “I’m killing time and wasting my youth,” a phrase that, as with so many other indie records, sets the tone of disgruntlement for the rest of the album. At that point, you are drawn into the emotional rollercoaster 12 songs in length. Eventually, along comes the closer, “Pages,” which is a much more upbeat piece that deals with starting anew.
Many songs on the recording feature details that are easy for people to relate to, such as that girl from “so many moons ago” mentioned in “Souvenir.” A listener can squeeze the sponge that is Pages and feel connected to the mixed emotions that come pouring out. The album ends on a higher, more cheerful note, making this is perfect for listening to on a rainy afternoon when they’re feeling lonely and in need of a pick-me-up, albeit a very gradual one.
In A Word: Distressed
