Local Natives — Gorilla Manor

This debut from California's Local Natives is initially reminiscent of The Dodos' Visiter — primarily because of its irregular drumming. The tempo of Gorilla Manor's first few songs is also akin to the tribal opening of The Acorn's Glory Hope Mountain: full, vibrant and purposefully haphazard without sounding pretentious.

The lyrics are carefully calculated and often poetic: "The sister is naughty/The cistern is not even full." These five also understand the value in subtly mixing symbolism with mystery. On "Sun Hands" they muse, "When I can feel with my sun hands, I promise not to lose her again." It's not clear what sun hands are, but they sound important and that makes it intriguing.

There's a very noticeable tempo dip for the disc's second half, as Local Natives handily stroll into Fleet Foxes territory. These sort of reductions in speed can often be disastrous, but it turns out the quintet do orchestral folk even better than tribal pop. They even cover a Talking Heads song — "Warning Sign" — and mold it to fit their suddenly gentle temperament.

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