Two years after their debut, Moonbeams (QRO Review), was released, Seattle’s Throw Me The Statue splash some more good vibes on the summer with Creaturesque. Led by Scott Reitherman, the band maintains their distinctly warm pop sound while approaching it from more complex angles this time around.
Once again, Throw Me The Statue’s charming semi-lo-fi style shines and gives their music the feel of calm ocean waves lapping the shore. On Creaturesque, the band mixes velvety smooth uptempo rock tracks with slower, more cerebral songs by utilizing various electronic effects to give it all a pleasant arts & crafts show feeling.
The opening track, "Waving at the Shore" is a lemonade-sipping, guitar-pop track that features several layers of addtional instruments, which turn it into a legitimate piece of art. Brass, xylophone, electric guitar, clapping, and more all contribute to its clever multi-dimensionality and hint at how eccentrically the album was made. The next two tracks, "Pistols" and "Tag" are darker and percussion-driven but provide a neatly contrasting valley to the leadoff hilltop view. Other tracks like the more alt-sy "Noises" and "Hi-Fi Goon" stand out as what would be radio gems if radio was cool.
Creaturesque is more than a respectable sophomore effort. Throw Me The Statue show even more skill this time around – not only as instrumentalists, but as songwriters, and the entire album is quietly brilliant.
