Gardens and Villa, 'Gardens and Villa'

Release date: July 5, 2011
Record label: Secretly Canadian
Official website: http://www.gardensandvilla.com/

The buzz: Depending on whom you ask, Santa Barbara relative newbies Gardens and Villa (formed in 2008) may be this year’s Yeasayer, this year’s Grizzly Bear or this year’s Fleet Foxes. For their self-titled album, they shacked up with indie troubadour-turned-producer Richard Swift.

The verdict: As with many debuts, the influences behind “Gardens and Villa” ring out too transparently at times—and they’re drinking from a well-tapped well, nodding toward today’s big-name indie revivalists as well as the heyday of Brit-pop and California psych-pop. More than a few times, though, they touch on a sound that transforms the well-trod turf. “Orange Blossom” combines a come-hither falsetto with a squelching bass and videogame sound effects, then throws in a flute for good measure. Lead single and certified crowd pleaser “Black Hills” is catchy as can be; the unexpected rhythms that pop up are more understandable given the band’s admiration of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. They do tranquility well, too, as shown on the lovely “Carrizo Plain”—though the refrains about the “marmalade sky” on the hazy psych-ballad “Chemtrails” verge on stoner parody.

Did you know? The members are college friends; prior to Gardens & Villa, they were in a presumably much noisier post-punk band.