Hung at Heart

Lo-Fi macabre organ fueled surf goth or just another day hanging with Costa Mesa, California’s The Growlers. There are fifteen unhurried, laconic, dark surf tinged keyboard driven songs on this collection. The production of these infuriatingly catchy songs is as dry and as thin as the year old rolling papers long forgotten and wedged in between sofa cushions.

Garage minimalism is the order of the day here. “Salt on a Slug” sounds like someone recorded Jim Morrison and The Doors rehearsing for Morrison Hotel from half a block away, and it only whets your appetite for more. “Tried it all Too Soon” is a witchy bit of folk flavored hippie musings.

There’s a fascination with dark subjects of death and dieing, with a 1960’s neo-psychedelia vibe, that feels like gritty horror movies made on leftover film stock by recent film grads. Everything is gritty and seedy with a carnivalesque – surf soundtrack,  neatly summed up by the band with lyrics from “One Million Lovers,”  “Some things don’t need words/You know you’re livin if it all becomes a blur.”

Like a protagonist who knows he doesn’t stand a chance of succeeding, on ‘Someday,’ he sings, “I wish you could depend on me.”

The Beach Boys have long since moved on. Brace yourself with your poison of choice and hold on if you’re planning on hanging out ‘round here.