22-year-old Trevor Powers is a pioneer, diving into and exposing the youth psyche of today’s technology housed culture. A year and a half since the release of his harrowing, self-made debut Powers is back with his sophomore release. This time, he’s dragged his dreams and fears from the bedroom into a studio to produce something massive and weird and potentially ground-breaking. Wondrous Bughouse, experimental and sonic, is proof that the indie genre is alive and well and actually going somewhere from the folk-pop wannabes that dominate the more prominent arena of the indie music scene. It’s out today via Fat Possum. From start to finish, the album dives headfirst into the rabbithole that is Powers’ brain. Much like The Year of Hibernation, it’s psychedelic and booming, textured with hollow echoes that make listening to it a strangely solitary experience. At times it wanders into and gets lost in a dizzy circus melodrama (see: “Attic Doctor”) and stays there, perhaps a bit too long. It’s almost scary, but almost catchy. It’s tracks like that which are bound to amass some attention (and some criticism). Debatably the pinacle of the album, “Dropla,” is a haunting visit to a hospital room where a loved one passes. It’s a reminder of our mortality, but also showcases once again Powers’ immense talent for depressing songwriting.
The album is punctuated with a pervasive sense of proleptic nostalgia. Despite its depressing and lonely undertones, there is something oddly optimistic and youthful about it. Go figure. It’s bound to be a tad controversial, given its experimental edge. Yet its honesty also guarantees it to hit home with a lot of people. Powers is just doing his own thing and I hope he doesn’t stop.
Check out the tracklist and some sample tunes after the jump (more…)
