Black Moth Super Rainbow, surely one of the trippiest groups around today, barring the ever-present Animal Collective, are set to release Eating Us on 3/26/2009, their fourth LP under that name.
Note: They had a string of releases as ‘Satanstompingcaterpillers’ through the early 2000s.

While the modern psychedelic-electro classic Start a People and the poppier Dandelion Gum found BMSR striving to mix colors and sound, a goal they achieved to excellent artistic effect, Eating Us sounds much like the cover looks- a monochromatic haze with a curious, sometimes unsettling, intrigue making itself occasionally apparent.

From the opener “Born On a Day the Sun Didn’t Rise”, it is clear that the gift for catchy titles is here, the vocoder, sensible use of electronics, and the general weirdness fans have come to expect from the group, though a general sense of melancholy pervades throughout the album. “Dark Bubbles” plods along, despite cascading noise, ending acoustically, while “Twin of Myself” recalls the neo-lounge of Stereolab. “Gold Splatter” is the first key track, even a bit Air-like (without the femme vocals), and builds up to to a cinematic conclusion. “Iron Lemonade” is another sign of the album picking up steam- this is Black Moth Super Rainbow 2.0. “Tooth Decay” is my favourite of the lot, thoroughly danceable and sounding like their version of disco. “Fields are Breathing” and “Smile the Day After Today” are mellower and dream-like, while the brief “The Sticky” returns the punch. “Bubblegum Animals” is somewhat of a throwaway, but then again they have long had brief interludes on their albums. “American Face Dust” concludes the album brighter than it had begun, and would make for a wise single choice (non-album single from this year, “Don’t You Want To Be in a Cult” isn’t found here), a sonic-brother of “Gold Splatter”.

While the album is enjoyable, there is little that is new here- Eating Us could have been truly wonderful with the promise of a more introspective, and ‘chillaxed’ vibe than their previous material, and instead provides (mostly) more of the same and a few highlights. Grab Start a People first if you are new to the world of Black Moth Super Rainbow.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Official Site | on MySpace Music