Saharan Gazelle Boy‘s Airplanes Can’t, released on Kansas City label, The Record Machine, evokes thoughts of sunny sea sides and breezy afternoons.
Saharan Gazelle Boy is the solo project of Darin Seal from Kansas City’s classically calm indie rock band, Capybara. Seal incorporates Capybara’s quaint style with his own soft, subtle melodies. Big-hearted folksy tunes sway, indie rock rhythms gallop, and electronic beats pitter and patter across speakers like subtle spring raindrops.
Simple, free-flowing synths bend and sway through the album’s title track, “Aiming a Wave.” Melodies play out in tiny verses. Delicate vocals, which are almost fainter than the song’s backing music, serve as musical icing.
Airplanes‘ songs slide from scratchy, old, ragtime tinged tracks to fast tempo 80s dance songs that take on influence from new wave artists, such as New Order.
The sleepy-eyed ballad, “Those Days,” sounds as if it’s drifting out of an old jukebox, similar to the feel and pace of The Flamingos‘ “I Only Have Eyes for You.”
While the album’s songs are simple in structure, each sounds whole. Airplanes‘ 11 tracks are diverse and a good buy for $2. Buy the album, and drive yourself out to a lake. Lay back, insert ear phones, relax.
