It’s been almost two years, but Carey Mercers project Frog Eyes are back with a new album, Pickpocket’s Locket, which drops on August 28th via Paper Bag Records. Despite featuring contributions from Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake), Jesse Zubot, John Paton and Paul Rigby, Mercer wrote the album on his acoustic guitar, saying “An acoustic guitar is still, in 2015, a very effective way of transmitting one’s song,” says Frog Eyes’ Carey Mercer. “I made a deal with myself: write ten songs, write all the words before anyone gets to hear any of the songs, memorize the songs so that I become the hard-drive that the acoustic guitar accesses. I mostly, if not totally, kept to this deal, which is rare: I’m generally pretty easy on myself.”
From the album comes a new single, Joe with the Jam. It’s odd, agit pop right from the off, Mercer’s mind working overtime, almost listing ideas and statements as they appear in his wildly creative mind. Underneath, there’s a odd, eerie feel about the music, led as it is by this oscillating synth, along with strings that seem to cross the path of the vocal and take it into even more uneasy territories. That it remains eminently listenable is testament to Frog Eyes / Carey Mercer.
http://paperbagrecords.com/artists/frog-eyes
