Creeping Weeds - We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having

Philly’s Creeping Weeds pulls from the pantheon of ‘90s indie greats—Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Pavement etc. The cover of We Are All Part of a Dream You’re Having is a take on MC Escher-style staircases splashed with bits of vibrant pastel color, suggesting that the record, like the staircases, leads to somewhere not in the immediate field of vision—this isn’t your run-of-the-mill debut. The album comes across as very self-assured and authentic, paying no mind to buzz bands and current trends. Mangled guitars and drums engage in manic antics when there’s no melody to be found (“Derelict”), though the band can nail those as well (“I Wanted to Live (Die)”—which will certainly be on my next mixtape). But they’re just as likely to write a damn good folk song (“Our Country Home”). The self-deprecating name is a hoax, folks—these guys are blooming, bustling flowers, if anything. [www.creepingweeds.com]