Campfires-Slaughter Tropes Cassette

It's weird, but Campfires music works better in long form then in short bursts. Take for example their previous release, the Dusty Mansions 7" they did for Small Plates. It was a mighty mine seven inch, and it had some of their best songs to date (especially the impeccable "Chasing Planets"), but it also felt strangely incomplete at the same time.

Which is what makes their latest release, the triumphant return to the cassette that is Slaughter Tropes, all the better. This is the way Campfires was meant to be heard, with all the dimensions of the band present at once. Because yes, for every "Melted Rubber Soul", the cassette's lead off track of gooey guitar lines piled on cooed vocals, there is also the 30 second sound college of "Fuck Zurich Anyway" or "So Far Gone" which is just the band repeating the song title over and over again. And these sections/songs, which would be throw away moments on most other bands' releases, work so well when done by Campfires (mostly thanks to the band's ability to meld beautiful, fragment melodies into those fragments of songs). Campfires has realized what Guided by Voices figured out (and in turn forgot as well); that experimentation with one's sound can flesh it out and expand everything around it. Especially when your crafting songs as bright as "Distant Hills" or "Red Five & Dime", they jump from simple psych pop to glorious lo-fi psychedelic gems.

(mp3) Campfies-Melted Rubber Soul
(mp3) Campfies-Distant Hills

Links:

Campfires' Website
Buy the Slaughter Tropes here, from Campfires' bandcamp