Staff Reviews

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Review by Clare Joslin

Somehow Gorilla Manor feels easy. Pristine and mature, it clouts the listener with a thudding barrage of vital guitar hooks and layered percussion; a dynamic product of accomplished creation, which sounds both radiant and wretched as it traces around themes of love and loss. »

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rough trade exclusive special edition with a bonus dvd featuring the local natives playing acoustically in strange places, out in the countryside, mixed up with some on the road stuff. the cd is in a digi, and the dvd in a separate artworked card sleeve plus a slipcase round it all. 'gorilla manor' is the debut album from the local natives who were the buzz band of this year's sxsw. the los angeles quintet makes music that crackles with frenetic beats, agile melodies and cascading harmonies, tightly assembled in songs that advocate, in varying degrees of exuberance and wonderment. their harmonic style is indicative of the influence of hazy beach bums of 60s socal and zombified brit pop, while their percussion philosophy derives from somewhere more natural: a unifying connection between the five-piece developed over hours spent living together in their own guerilla hideaway in silverlake, california. the album has the warmth and instant attraction of hearing the fleet foxes, mid peroid talking heads or band of horses for the first time. it was love at first listen at rough trade shops.
description from www.roughtrade.com